


Beauty and the Cop

by Chrystie, kate882



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, undercover cop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-22 23:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6097144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akaashi continued as if Oikawa hadn't interrupted him, not taking his eyes off of Iwaizumi. “If you hadn't gotten so involved with Oikawa-san while on your job he wouldn't have been targeted, and I think it was very unprofessional of you to let that happen.”</p><p>Or, the one where Iwa-chan is an undercover cop at Oikawa's university.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When a student walked into their class on the first day, Oikawa’s first reaction, upon realizing that the guy was hot, was to push Kuroo off of the chair next to him. “Hey! There’s a free seat over here!” he called, waving. 

Iwaizumi blinked a few times, looking between the kid waving at him and the kid on the floor screaming at the kid who pushed him, looking just about ready to strangle him. “I think your friend had that seat,” he blandly stated.

Oikawa waved off the concern. “Who, Tetsu-chan? Nah, he wants to sit next to Bokuto.”

“Well I sure do  _ now,”  _ Kuroo muttered, rubbing his elbow where he’d hit it on the ground.

Oikawa beamed. “See! He even says so.” Quieter, so that only Kuroo could hear, “I’ll buy you Starbucks for lunch, stop complaining.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes, but went over to the seat next to Bokuto.

“Umm… okay?” Iwaizumi guessed it wasn’t that bad if the black-haired kid agreed to it. He sat down next to the guy he had classified as the ‘happy asshole’ who was beaming a wide smile at him. While his smile was undoubtedly attractive, it was also giving him the creeps.

“I’m Oikawa Tooru,” he introduced, holding out his hand and managing to somehow smile even brighter than before.  

“Iwaizumi Hajime.” He took the offered hand despite instinct telling him to slide himself closer to the edge of his seat, away from Oikawa. The kid was way too happy and friendly for it to be normal.

“Nice to meet you, Iwa-chan! So, did you transfer here or have I just managed to not see you before?”

Iwaizumi felt his eyebrow twitch slightly, “Just transferred here. Don’t call me that.” He figured that if he kept his responses brief and uninteresting Oikawa had to lose interest in him eventually. He definitely didn’t need some kid hanging around him while he tried to do his job at the school.

Oikawa’s eyes lit up. “I could show you around. The campus tours are  _ the worst.  _ I couldn’t find anything my first week of school here. Even my own room! I walked into several things I didn’t really want to see—and a few I was okay with seeing—before I actually learned where my room was, because all they did was point at the dorm buildings to show us where they were.”

Iwaizumi  _ definitely _ didn’t need to know that. He was ready to decline Oikawa’s offer until he actually thought about it. Having the kid show him around would give him a better idea of who hung out where, which would technically make his job easier. “I guess?” He’d just have to put up with the walking glowstick, he supposed.

“Great! Show me your schedule after class, and we’ll work out a time to show you around,” he said as the teacher walked in. Oikawa instantly turned his full attention to the instructor, pulling out a pair of glasses, a notebook, and pen.

Iwaizumi was certainly shocked. He’d expected Oikawa to be the type to annoy him all throughout class. It was good to know he at least cared about his academics. It was at least one good trait Iwaizumi could see Oikawa had.

When the class let out Oikawa pulled out his phone to pull up his schedule and looked at Iwaizumi expectantly.  

Iwaizumi was a little hesitant to give someone he just met his schedule, especially since he didn’t expect to stick to it in any way during his time at the school. Regardless, he showed Oikawa his schedule.

Oikawa’s eyes quickly scanned the schedule next to his own. “I can meet you in an hour to show you around. I’ve got a class coming up in a few minutes right now though.” He could see Kiyoko waiting at the door for him. He smiled at her before returning his attention back to Iwaizumi. “Do you want to meet here?”

“Sure.” Iwaizumi really didn’t care where they met. The classroom was an easy place.

Oikawa flashed him a bright smile. “See you soon, Iwa-chan!” He put his things away quickly before standing up. “Kiyoko-san, sorry for keeping you waiting!” He flounced over to her and they started towards their next class.

Again, Iwaizumi felt his eyebrow twitch at the nickname. This kid was going to really test his patience, he could already tell.

* * *

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa called from the classroom door when he spotted the other boy. He’d been talking to Hinata while he waited, so Hinata waved too, even though he was kind of half-hiding from Iwaizumi behind Oikawa. He wasn’t good with new people who seemed even the slightest bit intimidating. It had taken forever to get him to stop jumping every time Oikawa said hi to him.

“I'm pretty sure I asked you to stop calling me that.” Iwaizumi eyed the small child hiding behind Oikawa. “Is that your little brother or something?”

Hinata made an indignant sound from behind him while Oikawa just laughed. “Chibi-chan wishes he had an older brother as cool as me.”

“I do not!” Hinata protested.

“Iwa-chan, this is Chibi-chan. He’s on the school volleyball team with me. So are Tetsu-chan and Bokuto, actually. You saw them earlier in our class,” Oikawa continued as if Hinata hadn’t spoken up.

“Stop using that name to introduce me to people.” Hinata hesitantly moved forward to hold his hand out to Iwaizumi. “I’m Hinata Shouyou.”

Iwaizumi looked at Hinata skeptically as he shook the offered hand, unsure if he was being lied to or not. “Are you sure you go here?” Hinata looked as though he belonged in middle school, not a university.

“This is my second semester here!” He seemed to become a bit less shy as he got worked up.

Oikawa laughed again and ruffled Hinata’s hair. “Believe it or not he’s one of our best middle blockers.” He then tilted his head as something occurred to him. “Well, does that actually mean anything to you? I don’t know if you know anything about volleyball, but it’s a big sport here, so I just figured.”

Iwaizumi nodded, still skeptical of what they were saying. “I played a bit in high school. Are you sure he's a middle blocker?” Iwaizumi gave Hinata a pat on the head to emphasize his point.

Oikawa grinned. “Chibi-chan, please jump for my new friend here.”

“In the hallway?” Hinata looked at him incredulously.

Oikawa simply held up his hand to Iwaizumi’s height as a marker for how high he wanted Hinata to jump.

Hinata glanced around nervously, but complied, actually jumping higher than Oikawa told him to.

“I’m sure he’s a middle blocker.”

Iwaizumi’s eyes widened as Hinata jumped well over his own height. “That's a big jump you have, kid.” Despite Hinata having proved himself as what he claimed, from the way he looked and the way he was still nervous around him, Iwaizumi couldn't help but still think of him as a cute kid.

Hinata beamed at the compliment, but moved back towards Oikawa all the same.

“Well, that’s enough of that. I believe I promised you a tour. Later, Chibi-chan~”

“See you at practice, Grand King!” Hinata waved as Oikawa steered Iwaizumi towards the front of the building.

“Grand King?” Iwaizumi wasn't sure whether to laugh or not.

Oikawa sighed dramatically. “He’s been calling me that since high school. I think it has something to do with his friend, Tobio-chan, but he’s never really told me. He says he’ll stop calling me that when I stop calling him Chibi-chan, which isn’t happening until he grows at least ten centimeters.”

Iwaizumi chuckled quietly into his hand, “The kid’s cute.” Iwaizumi might have preferred it if Hinata had been the one to give him the school tour if it hadn't looked like Hinata was terrified of him.

Oikawa nodded in agreement. “He is, but don’t let Tsukki hear you say that,” he said with a wink. “Alright, so this is our local Starbucks. Otherwise known as the reason that half of the students here will be late to class.” He gestured to the line to prove his point. “We are currently in the Literature building. Obviously there are other types of classes, but it’s mostly that, and you can always find someone working on a paper or novel in the Starbucks of the Lit building. Or building D if you want the official name.”  

Iwaizumi nodded, not paying too much attention to what Oikawa was saying as he scanned the students to see if any could potentially be the one he was sent to the school to capture. None of the students looked too suspicious, although he had expected that—most drug dealers didn't tend to find Starbucks a nice place to hang out.

“Other than Starbucks and classes you won’t find much here though. C’mon.” He took Iwaizumi’s hand and pulled him outside of the building looking around for what to go to next. “Let’s go to the student center. That’s a great place to meet people, so probably where you’ll want to hang out when I’m not around since you’re new.”

“You know, I can walk by myself.” Iwaizumi shook the hand in Oikawa’s to try to get him to let go.

“Yeah, but why do that when you could walk with me instead?” Oikawa flashed him a bright smile.

Iwaizumi gave him an unimpressed look, “I think I'd rather walk by myself.”

Oikawa hung his head but let go of Iwaizumi’s hand. “So mean, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi held back the urge hit Oikawa, settling on just glaring at him. “I never said I was nice.”

“You sure didn’t, but being nice is how you make friends. Trust me, I have lots of friends.”

It sounded a lot like Oikawa was bragging which only increased Iwaizumi’s urge to hit him. “I'm sure,” he scoffed.

“You sound like you don’t believe me.” Oikawa pouted, not even noticing the group of girls that were helping to prove him right by waving at him as they passed by.

“I believe you have a lot of fans.” Iwaizumi couldn't say he was too surprised at that either. Oikawa was, admittedly, very attractive.

“Huh?” Oikawa glanced around and flashed a smile at the girls. “Well, yeah, those too I suppose.”

“You’re also apparently a flirt.” Not that Iwaizumi couldn’t figure that out from the first few seconds of knowing Oikawa.

“Well, I mean, I’ve been flirting with you this whole time, so I would have to agree with that.” Oikawa said as he walked into the student center. “Alright, so if you want to hang out with people on campus, or if you’re into smoking without getting yelled at by a faculty member, or video games, or okay food for not-so-okay prices, or keeping up with what’s happening on campus this is the place for you,” he said, making a sweeping gesture for the building as a whole.

“Better you don’t get your hopes up with all the flirting,” Iwaizumi grumbled, taking a step away from Oikawa. Looking around the area, Iwaizumi could predict that he’d be spending a lot of time there. It looked as though if he was going to get any information about the drug dealer then he would get it from this building.

Oikawa’s smile didn’t shift in the slightest at the rejection. “Oh, and if you want to join any clubs, a lot of them put their signs up around here.” He pointed at a bulletin board covered in colorful fliers.  

Iwaizumi only continued to nod to show Oikawa he was listening, at least a little bit. He didn’t really need to know about the clubs—his stay at the university was only temporary, after all.

“Alright, let's get this tour started.” He showed Iwaizumi around the game room, the area behind the game room where people smoked or had sex to try and avoid getting in trouble doing either (”It’s hit or miss on what’s happening back there, I would recommend just avoiding it in general. Like, you can do either one in your dorm room and probably be fine.”), the cafeteria, bookstore, the room that was basically an event room and was empty for most of the year until the school needed it, the vending machine that always gave two sodas instead of one, and the computer lab. “And that’s the student center,” he finished.

Well, Iwaizumi would definitely be keeping an eye on that smoking area. It seemed like the most likely place for a drug deal to happen.

They continued to walk around campus with Oikawa pointing everything out to him until they reached the dorm building. “And this is my dorm if you ever want to visit. Tetsu-chan shares it with me, just so you know,” he said, gesturing to a door with two white boards, each with a few phone numbers and messages written on them, and some cat stickers on Kuroo’s side and alien and glow-in-the-dark star stickers on Oikawa’s.

“Don’t think I ever will,” Iwaizumi responded bluntly.

Oikawa pouted at him. “Why not? Aren’t we friends yet?”

“I  _ might _ visit if I was sure you had other intentions than just getting me in your bed.” Iwaizumi raised a hand to block out Oikawa’s pouting face, not really wanting to deal with it.

“But I said friends! We could just hang out, no sex or kissing or anything like that!” he tried to say around Iwaizumi’s hand.

Iwaizumi lowered his hand, eying Oikawa skeptically before giving him the benefit of the doubt. “I’ll consider visiting if I’m not busy every now and then,” he sighed.

Oikawa gave him a genuine smile at that, eyes sparkling happily. “Thank you, Iwa-chan!” he said, pulling him into a hug.

Iwaizumi tensed, unsure of how to react to the hug. Was he supposed to hug back? Should he just let Oikawa do what he wanted? He really wasn’t sure.

Before Iwaizumi could decide, Oikawa let go of him. “Do you need any help finding your dorm? I won’t be able to stick around, I’ve got to get to volleyball practice, but I can make time to show you if you need help.”

“I’m fine, I don’t live on campus.” Iwaizumi didn’t think it was necessary to get a place on campus when he planned to only stay a few months at most. It didn’t really affect how his job would turn out either, so there was really no point.

“You have your own place then?” Oikawa tilted his head. “That’s cool. Alright, well, I’ve gotta go. Give me your phone and I’ll give you my number so you can let me know when you want to stop by.”

Iwazumi handed him his phone with a nod, “Yeah, I live on my own.”

“I wanted to do that for a while, but I think I like having a roommate better.” Oikawa told him as he plugged his number into Iwaizumi’s phone and then flashed a peace sign for the contact picture he took of himself before handing the phone back to Iwaizumi. He opened the door to his room to quickly grab his gym bag and closed it behind him. “I’ll walk you out then since I’ve gotta get across campus to the gym anyway,” he offered.

Iwaizumi let Oikawa lead him out, as he had done for most of the day. During the time Oikawa wouldn’t be clinging to him, Iwaizumi supposed it wouldn’t hurt to check on the few areas he found appropriate places for illegal activities to take place.

“Bye, Iwa-chan! We have our first game of the season in a month, you should come watch us play.” He waved before heading off towards the gym, catching the attention of a few team mates as he went.

Iwaizumi sighed as Oikawa walked away, something he figured he’d probably be doing a lot of during his stay at the university. He supposed he could take some time to watch the game, if only to see how effective Hinata was in an actual game, and maybe just to be nice to Oikawa.

* * *

“Iwa-chan, Tetsu-chan pushed me.” Oikawa pouted from his spot on the floor when Iwaizumi walked into their shared class. He’d bought Kuroo Starbucks and everything, and Kuroo still felt the need to push him when he sat down before joining Bokuto.

“I accept Paypal and high fives as thank yous for doing the Lord's work by harassing Tooru,” Kuroo called.

“You good with a high five and a thank you?” Iwaizumi laughed. It was nice that someone felt comfortable enough to cause Oikawa the physical injuries he wanted to inflict on him.

“Hell yeah.” Kuroo grinned at Oikawa and high fived Iwaizumi while Bokuto laughed.

“Dude, you dragged him around for two hours yesterday, and you expect him to feel bad that Kuroo pushed you?” Bokuto asked. Oikawa just pouted more.

“I think I know what you mean by having ‘a lot of friends’ now.” Iwaizumi held out a hand to help Oikawa up even if he was still laughing at him.

“They don’t count. They’re bad friends,” Oikawa mumbled, but his eyes lit up when Iwaizumi offered him a hand. He was still laughing at him, but at least he was willing to help him. “Thank you.” He took the hand and got to his feet.

“They seem like perfectly good friends to me. If anything, you need friends who keep your ego in check.” Iwaizumi took his seat after lightly flicking Oikawa’s forehead.

“Ow.” Oikawa rubbed his forehead for dramatic affect.

“Nah, his friends are pretty good for that. It’s the people he doesn’t like that seem to boost his ego.”

“We aren’t talking about him, Bokuto!”

“I saw him here today,” Kuroo mentioned.

Oikawa groaned, laying his head on his desk. “I can just hear the words already. What university is he going to? I need to replace Shiratorizawa with that. Why is he even here?”

“Who’s ‘him’?” Iwaizumi wasn’t sure he’d seen Oikawa outrightly dislike anyone up until now.

When it didn’t look like Oikawa was going to do more than make a pained sound Kuroo decided to speak up. “Ushijima Wakatoshi. Otherwise known as Ushiwaka. Or Oikawa’s fanclub. And you know where he goes. He keeps telling you.” He added the last part to Oikawa, but Oikawa ignored it.  

“My stalker, you mean. My fans are nice to me,” Oikawa corrected.

“Yeah, that works too.” Kuroo shrugged.

_ Ushijima… _ Iwaizumi could’ve sworn that he’d heard that name before. “Is he someone who goes here?”

“Nah, he just comes here a lot to visit people and harass Oikawa. If you keep up with volleyball at all, he was third in nationals a few years back though, so that might be it,” Bokuto told him.

_ Ahh. _ Iwaizumi remembered seeing him in a few magazine articles. Well, if he didn’t go to the university then it cleared him of being a suspect at least. “What’s so special about this idiot that he comes all the way here to bug him?” Was he interested in Oikawa or something?

“I’m a good setter,” Oikawa mumbled into his desk.

“He doesn’t  _ just  _ bug Tooru. He also visits people. Lots of volleyball players that we know from high school go here. But he spends a lot of time bugging Tooru,” Kuroo said.

Iwaizumi was never too concerned with Ushijima and the top volleyball players of his generation, despite playing a bit in high school, but he knew Ushijima had to be amazingly good in some way, so that probably meant he saw Oikawa on the same level if what they were saying was true. “You must be good then; maybe I will go see your game.”

Oikawa perked up at that. “Really? You’ll come?” he asked hopefully.

“He won best setter in middle school and high school, and he’s team captain, so I’d say he’s at least decent,” Kuroo told Iwaizumi.

“This idiot leads the team?” Iwaizumi asked skeptically, “Then I’m definitely coming. I need to see that for myself.”

“I’ve been leading teams since high school!” Oikawa protested.

“Same,” Bokuto and Kuroo said at the same time before fistbumping for being in synch.

The teacher walked in, five minutes late even though it was only the second day, and just like before, Oikawa gave the instructor his full attention as he pulled out his class materials and glasses.

It was kind of eye-opening to Iwaizumi that someone as upbeat and, in some ways, a bit of a ditz as Oikawa was so focused on his academics. It was a nice switch compared to his almost obnoxious constant state of happy. And Iwaizumi would admit, the glasses really suited him.

“He’s like that with games too, if you’re wondering.” Bokuto told Iwaizumi when class was over and everyone was packing up.

“Like what?” Oikawa asked.

“Super focused and stuff.”

Oikawa opened his mouth to reply but then noticed Ushijima talking to Kiyoko outside of the classroom door. “Excuse me,” he said briefly, and then tried to make an escape.

“What are you-  _ we are on the second floor!”  _ Kuroo grabbed Oikawa by the back of his shirt when he noticed him going towards the windows.

“I can make it!” Oikawa argued.

“Not without fucking up your legs you can’t!”

“I wasn’t gonna jump! Just climb!” But it was too late. Ushijima had spotted him.

“Oikawa.”

“Shut up! I’m not transferring to your school. Leave me alone!” He walked out the door. “Traitor.” he said accusingly to Kiyoko as he passed. “Bye Iwa-chan!”

“Uh...” Iwaizumi managed to articulate in his dumbfounded state as Oikawa rushed out of the class. He turned to Ushijima who looked relatively unsurprised, “He doesn’t like you,” he stated bluntly.

“I know,” Ushijima replied, just as bluntly.

“So why do you try?” It seemed like a wasted effort on Ushijima’s part, as Oikawa was just going to say ‘no’ and avoid him.

“It’s not about liking each other. I haven’t found a better setter than him yet, and he’s wasting his time. He could be playing better.”

“Thank you. Fifth in spiking. Standing right here,” Bokuto commented.

“I am third.”

Bokuto deflated a bit and Kuroo patted his shoulder. “It’s alright, buddy. You’ll get there.”

“I have friends to see now. Goodbye.” And with that Ushijima turned and left.

“Still not sure if he has friends,” Bokuto muttered bitterly.

“He’s a ball of sunshine, isn’t he?” Iwaizumi couldn’t think of anyone he’d ever met as uptight as Ushijima. He could see why Oikawa hated him.

“He’s certainly something. He’s a really good player, but . . . yeah. Although, Shrimpy’s team beat his,” Kuroo told him. “He’s been bugging Oikawa since middle school though.”

Iwaizumi nodded as he headed out of the class with Bokuto and Kuroo, “Is he who you guys are facing in the next game?”

“Nah. That’s going to be a while,” Kuroo said.

“We’re facing Akaashi next,” Bokuto said happily.

“His boyfriend,” Kuroo clarified.

That much Iwaizumi probably could’ve guessed just from the near lovestruck look on Bokuto’s face. “He’s starting to creep me out with that grin on his face.”

“He does that to people. Bo, you’re being creepy.” He elbowed Bokuto.

“I wasn’t doing anything!” Bokuto protested.

“You saw Akaashi last week. Don’t be weird about it.”

Iwaizumi thought it was almost kind of cute, seeing how much the idiot loved his boyfriend. And as if the thought brought him up, he found Oikawa hiding himself behind a tree, nervously looking around him. “He  _ really  _ doesn’t like Ushijima, does he?”

“You just watched him try to throw himself out a window. That wasn’t dramatics. He was gonna do it,” Kuroo said, walking over and pulling Oikawa out from behind the tree. “Don’t you have class?”

“Right now? No. If you’re thinking of the one that I had this time yesterday I’ve only got that three days a week.” Oikawa answered. “Is he gone?”

“Well, I don’t see him,” Kuroo said reasonably.

“Pretty sure he’s gone for now,” Iwaizumi confirmed. “You gonna be like this every time he’s around?”

“No. Next time I’ll make it to the window,” Oikawa said confidently. 

“No, you’re not.” Iwaizumi may not have had the best first impression of Oikawa but that didn’t mean he was going to let the idiot jump out a fucking window to avoid another idiot.

“I will.” Oikawa sounded very sure of himself. “But for now, the game room is open, and Ushiwaka-chan would never participate in something  _ fun,  _ so do you guys wanna go there?”

“Uh… sure?”

“Great!” Oikawa said before leading the way.


	2. Chapter 2

Oikawa’s nose wrinkled a bit. “Have you been hanging out in the smoking area?” 

“A bit,” Iwaizumi shrugged. He had definitely been there for more than just ‘a bit’, and he may have taken to smoking a little just to not seem suspicious while he was there. He hated wearing the smell though; it felt like walking around covered in sludge.

Oikawa tilted his head, looking at Iwaizumi contemplatively. “New habit? You haven’t smelled like smoke before now.”

“Yeah. Don’t really like the smell either.” After the first cigarette he had tried to cleanse away the smell with almost an entire bottle of mouthwash.

“Probably shouldn’t pick it up anyway. I would hate for you to get lung cancer.”

“Yeah. I’ll probably stop soon.” Just as soon as he caught whoever the new, dangerous drug dealer was, that seemed to focus on the university.

“Soon? As in not now? That’s how people get addicted.”

Iwaizumi didn’t think that would be a problem considering how much he hated the smell. “Trust me, I know.”

“Then why are you doing it?” Oikawa frowned. “Do you like someone who smokes there or something?”

Iwaizumi arched a brow, “No? I’m no dumb enough to pick up smoking just to impress someone.”

“Good to know. Why are you doing it then?”

“Relieving stress?” Iwaizumi easily lied.

Oikawa looked genuinely concerned by that. “Stress from what? If it’s school I can tutor you.”

Iwaizumi waved off his worries, “Nah, I’m fine with school. Don’t worry about it.”

“You're not fine if you're stressed enought that it’s causing you to pick up smoking. Besides, there are better stress relievers if you’re not wanting to get hooked.”

Iwaizumi really didn’t need that type of advice from Oikawa, but he could play along for a little while, especially since Oikawa was only trying to help. “Like?”

Oikawa listed the first things that came to mind. “Exercise, talking about your problems to someone, if possible removing the thing causing the stress, getting more sleep, boxing if you’re the aggressive type, a hobby that distracts you… Things like that.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t hold back a quiet chuckle. He lightly ruffled Oikawa’s hair with a smile, “You know, I don’t dislike you as much as before.”

Oikawa looked torn between being insulted that he wasn’t liked before and excited about being more liked now. “What did I do to change your mind so that I can keep changing it until you actually do like me?”

“You’re being less annoying.” Iwaizumi liked the more caring side of Oikawa; it seemed more real than the happy front he put up for everyone.

“Okay, but like, how? What was annoying before?” Oikawa narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to change the subject from your stress-induced smoking habit?”

“I change my mind, you’re still just as annoying,” Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes and pinched Oikawa’s cheek, “I just prefer this annoying over your fake smiley-whiney annoying.”

“Ow ow ow, Iwa-chan! Let go!” Oikawa protested. “And how dare you call my smiling fake! My smiles are great! I’ll have you know I’ve received poetry about my smile.”

“You smile because your fans love it, not because anything’s actually making you happy.” Iwaizumi decided to show some mercy and let go of his cheek, giving it a light pat as he did so.

Oikawa frowned at the observation for a moment before smiling at Iwaizumi. “You make me happy. When you aren’t hurting my face.”

Iwaizumi really couldn’t tell if Oikawa was being genuine or if he was flirting, so he decided he could give him the benefit of the doubt. “Glad to help… I guess.”

“Can I help you too then? I can go running with you or listen if you wanna talk or whatever you think would help with the stress.”

“We can go running.” Iwaizumi was more or less thankful for the offer, but it made it very difficult for him to do his job if he had to think up of stories for Oikawa. He supposed he'd just have to cut back on a bit on the smoking until Oikawa stopped being suspicious about it. Going on morning runs with someone wouldn't be so bad either.

Oikawa nodded. “Alright. I usually do my morning run at around six in the morning. Tetsu-chan says that’s an ungodly time though, so I can change it up if you need. At least I’m not out at five like Bokuto.”

“Six sounds good. Though I woulda thought you'd be the type to want to sleep in.” Six was around the time he usually got up to run anyway, it didn't really make much of a difference to him.

Oikawa shrugged. “Nah, I can’t really sleep past five. After that I just get some coffee and I’m good to go for the rest of the day. Tetsu-chan’s the one who sleeps in all the time. He’s not a morning person at all. ”

“Not surprising.” Kuroo, in many ways, reminded Iwaizumi of a lazy cat.

“I can just sense that Tooru is talking shit.” Kuroo said as he walked into the classroom, with only a minute left until class was supposed to start, if the teacher ever got there on time.

“Good senses. That's exactly what he's doing.” Iwaizumi felt no guilt at selling Oikawa out. It was always entertaining to see his face morph into an exaggerated betrayed look.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa protested. “I wasn’t, Tetsu-chan! I just mentioned that you’re not a morning person.”

“Neither are you. You just don’t sleep.” Kuroo muttered. “It’s creepy. One time, he stayed up fifty hours straight and he looked like the perfect picture of health, and didn’t even crash when he did sleep. He just took a two hour nap,” he told Iwaizumi, side-eying Oikawa who gave him a blinding smile back.

Iwaizumi’s eyes widened, only to narrow at Oikawa. “You sure you're human?” He poked Oikawa’s cheek just to double check. He'd stayed up that long before on stakeouts and it felt like shit. There was no way someone could do that without feeling at least somewhat dead.

“Pretty sure. I mean, it was finals week and I was taking eight classes,” Oikawa reasoned.

“I think he’s an alien. He’s got some weird obsession with space and aliens,” Kuroo confided.

“Are we on that again?” Bokuto called from his desk.

“Yes! Because I still think it’s true!” Kuroo called back.

“I just might believe that,” Iwaizumi muttered under his breath.

“Iwa-chan, not you too!” Oikawa whined. “I  _ had  _ to stay up that late. I had so much to do. And I got either perfect or nearly perfect scores on all of my finals because of it!”

“Bo and I have a bet going,” Kuroo said as if Oikawa hadn’t spoken. “I hear that after seventy-two hours of not sleeping you go crazy. I say that he won’t act any different because he’s already lost his mind. Bo says that he’d lose his shit and have some kind of breakdown if he actually managed to stay up that long.”

“Mind if I cut into the bet? I’d like to see this pretty idiot look moderately normal for once.”

“You think I’m pretty, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa batted his eyelashes at him.

“I also think you’re an idiot,” Iwaizumi went back to pinching Oikawa’s cheek. The lash-batting was more than a little weird.

“Ow! Iwa-chan! Tetsu-chan, help!”

Kuroo ignored him. “Gotta put in at least fifty bucks for the bet. What’s your angle on it then?”

“He keeps working like a human, but looks like he was dragged out of hell.” Iwazumi let go of Oikawa’s cheek, giving it a small pat. “For you that probably just means you didn’t bother to do your hair or makeup.”

Oikawa blinked a few times before tilting his head. “I don’t wear makeup. Why do you think I wear makeup? You just touched my face, you should know that.”

“He really doesn’t. He’s just that pretty. It’s weird,” Kuroo attested.

“Moisturizer helps,” Oikawa offered.

Iwaizumi found that incredibly hard to believe. He wiped a thumb over Oikawa’s eye only to stare at it in shock as nothing came off. “Forget what I said earlier, I think I hate you more now.”

“Iwa-chaaaaaan!” Oikawa whined. “I didn’t even do anything!”

Iwaizumi simply flicked his forehead, “Stop that.” He couldn’t believe anyone was this naturally pretty, it didn’t seem possible. Maybe Oikawa really wasn’t human.

“You’re all mean. Can’t we just pick on Tetsu-chan for once? He wakes up with his hair like that.”

Kuroo shrugged. “Can’t be bothered with styling it. It’s too much work.”

Iwaizumi was apparently ruining his life by surrounding himself with perpetually naturally good looking people. ”I don’t know why I ever considered the possibility that Kuroo would actually put in effort in the morning.”

“I don’t know why you considered that either. But I can tell you that Bo spends at least thirty minutes on his hair every morning,” Kuroo replied.

“I’ve gotten it down to fifteen, actually,” Bokuto said with a proud grin.

Iwaizumi would have said something along the lines of it being ridiculous to need half an hour to just make his hair stand up but was cut off by their professor walking in and starting the class.

“Oh, gotta get to my seat.” Kuroo hopped over their desk to get to his, jostling Oikawa slightly as he was putting on his glasses. Oikawa didn’t even look back as he flipped Kuroo off with the hand that wasn’t picking up his pen.

* * *

The next morning, Iwaizumi knocked on Oikawa’s door at exactly six in the morning like he’d promised.

Oikawa opened the door in volleyball shorts and a tshirt and smiled at Iwaizumi. “Hi, Iwa-chan.” He whispered, trying to stay quiet for Kuroo as he slipped out the door.

Iwaizumi wasn’t sure whether to be angry or not at how nice Oikawa looked, even just in regular workout clothes. Maybe it was the shorts and the large amount of thigh being shown. “Hey. Where do you go to run around here?” Iwaizumi whispered back.

“Track around the gym.” Oikawa motioned for Iwaizumi to follow him and started leading the way.

Iwaizumi wasn’t surprised to find a few other people running around the track, one of which he recognized as one of the kids who had messed around the smoking area a lot. “Who’s the blond kid over there?” The first impression Iwaizumi had gotten from him while he was in the smoking area was that he was probably high most of the time.

“Who, Terushima?” Oikawa asked as he started stretching. “What about him?”

“Nothing. Just see him around a lot.” Iwaizumi mentally put his name down as someone to question later. If the kid really was high most of the time then he’d also probably knew where to get the drugs that were being passed around the campus.

“Well if you’re hanging out in the smoking area, you would see him a lot. He used to play volleyball in high school. But their school was kinda known as the party school, if you know what I mean. Doesn’t fly so well in college sports.”

That definitely solidified him as someone Iwaizumi would be questioning soon. “Why does is seem like you know everyone on this campus?”

“Not  _ everyone  _ on campus. That’s a lot of people,” Oikawa said with a laugh. “I just know a lot of people. I’m good at making friends, and being volleyball captain makes me kind of well-known too. It’s not really a big deal.”

“Kinda is,” Iwaizumi muttered. At least Oikawa’s large social circle helped him with his job.

“Why? What’s wrong with having friends?” Oikawa asked, looking up from his stretch.

Iwaizumi simply waved it off, doing his own stretches. He supposed it wasn’t really having a lot of friends that was a big deal, it was more he didn’t understand how anyone could handle being in such large groups. It sounded exhausting to him.

Another runner called over to them, “Hey, Oikawa-san, I’m going to be late to practice today.”

“Alright. I expect ten more laps from you this morning then,” Oikawa answered, standing up straight and looking to Iwaizumi. “Ready?”

Iwaizumi nodded, running ahead of Oikawa, holding back his laughter at Oikawa’s indignified yell.

Oikawa wasn’t captain for nothing though, so he easily caught up and started running beside Iwaizumi. “That wasn’t nice, Iwa-chan.”

“Never said I was nice,” Iwaizumi reminded Oikawa with a smug grin.

“Certainly haven’t shown it either,” Oikawa said crossly.

Iwaizumi decided to let up a little bit. “I don’t completely hate you though. If I didn’t like you I wouldn’t keep hanging out with you.”

Oikawa grinned at him. “Well, I’m glad that you find me good company since I happen to like spending time with you too.”

Iwaizumi wasn’t too surprised by that, considering Oikawa actively tried to hang out with him despite him not being the kindest person to him. Iwaizumi briefly wondered if Oikawa was a masochist. “Decent enough company, you mean.”

“Nope. I know what I meant,” Oikawa replied. “Is this as fast as you can go?” he added teasingly.

Iwaizumi arched a brow. “If that’s you saying you wanna race then I hope you’re prepared to lose.”

Oikawa grinned at him before taking off.

Iwaizumi could only smile. “That little shit.” He raced after Oikawa, managing to catch up to him easily enough but couldn’t manage to pull ahead for too long before Oikawa would just catch up to him.

“Whoever gets past him first wins,” Oikawa gasped out after they'd been racing for a little while, pointing at a kid up ahead before picking up speed.

“I think we tied,” he decided as he slowed to a stop, running a hand through his hair. “Next time I'll win though.”

“In your dreams.” Iwaizumi grabbed his water bottle, taking a quick swig and tossing it to Oikawa.

“Thanks.” Oikawa took a few sips before passing it back.  

A quick glance at the clock told Iwaizumi that they had a decent amount of time before they both had class. “You wanna keep going, or wanna take a shower?”

“I should probably shower. I’ve got an eight am class. If you want to come by the dorm you can borrow my shower.”

“Sounds better than going back to my place.” His apartment was unfortunately far from the university.

“Cool. Tetsu-chan should be waking up about now, so don’t worry too much about the whispering thing,” he said as he started walking towards the dorms, getting a few waves from some of the other runners that he returned.

“Are you sure you don’t know everybody on campus?” Iwaizumi was finding it increasingly unlikely that he didn’t.

Oikawa tilted his head like he was actually thinking about it. “Pretty sure,” he said uncertainly. “At least not by name, I don’t think.”

“Pretty sure, at that point you can’t consider everyone you know your friend.” Iwaizumi lightly hit Oikawa over the head.

“Why not?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head. “I’m sure they consider me their friend.”

“If you consider all of them your friends then you have some pretty shallow friendships.”

Oikawa shrugged. “Sure, but who doesn’t? Most people call them acquaintances, but why not just say friend? It’s a lot nicer to the acquaintance. I’ve still got some good friends though. Those are the ones that I talk to more.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Whatever. I’m just saying a friend should be someone who looks out for you, not just someone you know.”

“I have those too. Tetsu-chan, Bokuto, Chibi-chan, Kiyoko-san and her girlfriend Yachi, my old teammates from high school, Kenma-kun, Akaashi—although he doesn’t like to admit he’s my friend—Mr. Refreshing, Dadchi, Yamaguchi, and you. Those are my favorite friends.”

“Nice to know I’m on the list after only a week,” Iwaizumi laughed.

“You’ve been a good friend after only a week. Not particularly nice, but still good. I bet if we’d met in middle or high school we’d be best friends by now.”

“You know, maybe we would.” It made Iwaizumi feel somewhat guilty for lying to Oikawa, but an undercover job was an undercover job.

Oikawa beamed at him and held the door open to reveal Kuroo on the floor. “Hang in there Tetsu-chan; you can get up!” Oikawa cheered.

“When I do I’m killing you.”

“You say that every morning,” Oikawa pointed out.

“Wow, he looks like an amazing morning person,” Iwaizumi commented dryly.

“Oh god, you brought people over this early? Why do you hate me, Tooru?”

“I told you his hair just naturally looked like that.” Oikawa pointed at Kuroo’s hair.

Iwaizumi couldn’t really tell with Kuroo’s face planted on the floor, but from what he could see, it did look like how it normally looked. “It really does.”

“Do you want the shower first or should I take it?” Oikawa asked.

“I’ll take it. If Kuroo wakes up, I’d prefer he kill you over me.”

“Rude. He won’t be able to kill anyone until he’s had at least four cups of coffee. Bathroom’s that way,” he pointed.

Iwaizumi thanked him, heading there with the towel he had brought slung over his shoulder. When he came back he found Oikawa trapped under Kuroo, who was sipping his coffee while sitting on Oikawa’s back as Oikawa tried in vain to reach for his own coffee.

“Iwa-chan, help! I didn’t even do anything and he’s depriving me of my coffee.”

“You poured cold water on me. You don’t get coffee,” Kuroo said around his coffee cup.

Iwaizumi burst into a fit of laughter, squatting down to pat Oikawa’s head. “I don’t know, sounds like you deserved it.”

“I was trying to help wake him up.” Oikawa pouted at Iwaizumi.

“Sounds like you were just being an ass.” Iwaizumi looked up at Kuroo, who looked very pleased with himself. “Mind if I get some coffee?”

“Go for it. I wouldn’t take Tooru’s though unless you like sugar.”

“Guys, I have to take a shower. I have class,” Oikawa tried.

“I like sugar, but not that much,” Iwaizumi commented, pouring himself a cup and ignoring Oikawa’s pleas for help.

There was a pause and then Oikawa said mischievously. “Well, I know that Tetsu-chan forgets to check his school email a lot. Iwa-chan how are you about that?”

Iwaizumi arched a brow. “Decent?”

“Then I’m assuming you both did the last minute homework that was emailed to us and is due today. I think it was sent at around one am and takes roughly two hours to do. Oh, but I finished it. Maybe if I had some help I’d be willing to share...”

Iwaizumi was skeptical, he pulled out his phone to check his email and sure enough, there was an assignment due. “He’s telling the truth,” Iwaizumi said with dread.

“Fuck. Does it look like it’s hard?” Kuroo asked. Oikawa winced a bit when Kuroo’s weight started shifting nervously on top of him.

Scrolling through the assignment to read what he could on his phone, Iwaizumi repressed a groan. “No, but it looks long.”

“Long enough that I should let him up?” Kuroo pressed.

Iwaizumi honestly wanted to say no, but trying to do the assignment in between classes while also working on the drug dealer case would make it almost impossible to complete. “Let him up,” he sighed.

Oikawa grinned smugly as he got to his feet. “I hope your bed smells like sweat,” he said airily to Kuroo as he walked over to his bookbag and pulled out his assignment. “Have fun.” He handed it to Iwaizumi before walking into the bathroom to shower.

Iwaizumi scanned over the assignment. “It almost kills me that he’s actually smart.”

“Right? Seems like he’d be a total ditz, and then he pulls this shit because he’s a perfectionist at heart.”

Iwaizumi placed Oikawa’s assignment between him and Kuroo, using it as a reference to do their own work. It had taken Iwaizumi the entire twenty minutes Oikawa was in the shower to finish copying it.

Oikawa walked out with a towel around his shoulders and a different pair of volleyball shorts on. “You guys finished yet?” he asked, running a hand through his damp hair.

Iwaizumi was  _ not  _ openly staring at Oikawa, and he certainly was  _ not _ enjoying the sight of Oikawa’s damp, unstyled hair along with his bare chest. “Uh, yeah I finished.”

“Hey, pretty boy, some clothes?” Kuroo suggested after glancing at Iwaizumi.

“Huh?” Oikawa’s brows furrowed. “You never care.”

“We have a guest.”

“It’s just Iwa-chan. He’s been in locker rooms. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen.” Oikawa waved him off before starting to dry his hair with the towel he’d had around his shoulders.

Iwaizumi managed to tear his eyes away from Oikawa, coughing awkwardly. “Yeah it’s fine. I don’t really care.”

“See. Don’t be weird, Tetsu-chan. I even put on shorts for him. I think I’m just gonna wear them today though. I don’t feel like changing.” He walked over to his dresser to grab a t-shirt, tossing the towel he’d been drying his hair with into the hamper before pulling his shirt on.

Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa’s hair. “Is that how he does his hair? By towel drying it?”

“How did you think I did it?” Oikawa asked, turning to face them again when he had the shirt on.

“With hairspray? Like normal people?” He was almost tempted to throw something at the unnaturally perfect idiot.

Oikawa pouted at him. “I don’t like hairspray. It makes my hair feel weird.”

“Of course,” Iwaizumi sighed. He was tempted to test the limits of what Oikawa could and couldn’t do.

“If you wanna be really freaked out…” Kuroo whispered to Iwaizumi before saying louder, “Tooru, how long have you been awake?”

Oikawa’s brows scrunched up in thought before his eyes lit up as he got an answer. “Only twenty-four hours.”

“Only,” Kuroo drawled.

This time Iwaizumi let himself give into the urge to throw something at Oikawa. He grabbed the closest thing to him, which was a pillow, and chucked it at Oikawa’s head. “I’m starting to believe you when you say he’s not human.”

“Hey! My sleeping habits got your assignments done!” Oikawa pointed out, easily spiking the pillow back towards Kuroo and Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi easily caught the pillow, “You don’t even look tired! You should be halfway dead, you overly perfect dumbass!” He didn’t notice his slip up until it had left his mouth.

“You think I’m perfect, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked with a smirk.

Iwaizumi simply chucked the pillow back at Oikawa’s head, pretending Oikawa hadn’t said anything. “You done yet? Let’s go.”

“Yeah, just let me pack my assignment back up,” Oikawa agreed easily, picking up his papers and swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

Iwaizumi got up, picking up his bag and stood by the door to wait for Oikawa. “I’m guessing you don’t have class until later?” he asked Kuroo.

“My class is in a different building, and not for another hour. Just enough time to cram in my readings.” Kuroo gave them a two-finger salute as Oikawa joined Iwaizumi.

“See you later then,” Iwaizumi gave him a small nod of parting before turning to leave. “You’re gonna sleep tonight right?” he asked Oikawa once they were out of his dorm room.

“Probably a little. I’m not anticipating any long assignments, so yeah, I should be getting a decent amount of sleep.”

“Good. I don’t care how good you look, you have to at least feel a little bit dead.”

“Nah, I feel fine,” Oikawa shrugged. Maybe he was dead inside.

“Yeah, you’re not human,” Iwaizumi decided with a nod to himself.

“Do I need to show you my birth certificate? Kuroo made me show him, so I still have it in our room.”

“Nah, I'm good just thinking you're not human,” Iwaizumi playful ruffled his hair, not even surprised that it didn't really mess it up in any way.

Oikawa heaved a dramatic sigh. “Listen, what kind of med student gets a good amount of sleep anyway?”

“None, but most still try to sleep a few hours a night. Most also don't have time to be the captain of a sports team.”

“That's because they're sleeping a few hours every night,” Oikawa said loftily. “I do what I have to do to make it work.”

“I think you were the wrong person to give me a lecture about my health.” Not that Iwaizumi didn’t already know how disgusting cigarettes were.

“My health doesn't make me smell gross or give me cancer,” Oikawa huffed.

“It does shorten your lifespan, though.” Iwaizumi ruffled Oikawa’s hair once more before they reached the point where they had to part. “I’m this way. I’ll see you later.”

“Stop messing with my hair! I'll see you later.” He waved and headed towards his own class.

* * *

Iwaizumi walked into their shared class to find Bokuto and Kuroo had pulled up chairs to his and Oikawa’s desk and were already well into a conversation.

“I didn't even know he did drugs.”

“I did, but I thought it was just pot.”

“You think he’ll be okay?”

“I think there would be more fuss around campus if the dude was going to die.”

Iwaizumi was suddenly all ears. “Who?” he asked simply to try and seem not as interested as he really was.

“You haven't heard?” Bokuto asked.

“He wouldn't ask if he had.” Kuroo said with a roll of his eyes.

Oikawa took it upon himself to explain since the other two didn't seem to be doing it. “A kid OD’ed this morning and was rushed to the hospital. Word around school is that it was Akira, and that he was apparently snorting way too much cocaine because of an exam he was stressed about this afternoon.”

Iwaizumi felt a small pang of guilt. He needed to work faster. “Is the guy okay?”

“No clue. That's what we were talking about. Tooru thinks he's going to be okay since the university hasn't made any official announcements or anything like that,” Kuroo said.

Iwaizumi nodded. If the kid was okay and could talk then Iwaizumi would consider questioning him. If the kid didn’t want to talk then that was fine too, he could find other leads. “Is coke that easy to get around here for the kid to have gotten enough to OD himself?”

“Dude. We play sports. We can't take drugs. The coach has us tested twice a month to make sure of it,” Bokuto told him. “You're asking the wrong people about that.”

Oikawa spoke up. “True, but from what I've observed, the most used thing—other than pot obviously—is things like adderall and other prescription type stuff. It is a sports school after all. With prescription stuff a fake doctor’s note can usually get them out of trouble, so coke is kind of odd to hear about. That's why it's such big news today.”

At least that meant there couldn’t be more than one or two dealers. Iwaizumi took his seat next to Oikawa. He turned to him to playfully pinch Oikawa’s nose. “Since you know so much, you’re not doing them too, are you?”

“Ow! Why do you keep grabbing my face?” Oikawa complained.

Kuroo laughed and patted Oikawa’s shoulder. “If Tooru’s doing drugs, I’m Tinkerbell. This is the guy who recommended to the coach that we do the drug test twice a month instead of every three months.”

“Shh. I’m not advertising that,” Oikawa said frantically, glancing around. “I don’t want to be the reason people can’t have their fun. I just want our team to be the best. Playing stoned isn’t playing at your best.”

Iwaizumi smiled, letting go of Oikawa’s nose, “Just checking. Can’t have the ‘great captain’ high half the time.”

“Says the new smoker,” Oikawa muttered, pouting at Iwaizumi.

“Eh, until I saw your first drug test results, I was pretty sure you were on drugs too. Perfectionist only goes so far for most people,” Bokuto commented.

Oikawa dramatically placed a hand over his heart. “I am shocked. Shocked and hurt that you would think so low of me. I ought to have a talk with Akaashi about his boyfriend having trust problems.”

“Akaashi’s in class right now, so ha!” Bokuto stuck his tongue out at Oikawa.

As per usual, their professor walked in five minutes late for their class and began his lecture as soon as he put his bag down, ending their conversation.

Kuroo and Bokuto didn’t move, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone. When class ended Kuroo asked Oikawa if anyone had updated him on the kid in the hospital since he knew the most people.

“Umm, let me check.” He put his glasses away and pulled out his phone. “Yeah, someone says he woke up, so he’s probably gonna be okay if they’re right about that.”

Iwaizumi’s ears perked, he supposed he knew where he would be heading to. He just needed the others to not follow him. “See you guys tomorrow,” he said quickly, turning to head out the door.

“Where are you going?” Oikawa asked. They all usually hung out on days that he didn’t have class after this one.

Of course it was Oikawa that stopped him. He couldn’t say he was surprised in the least, he actually expected it. “Home?”

Oikawa’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why? You never go home this early.”

Iwaizumi held back his urge to groan, why couldn’t Oikawa make things easy? “It’s been a long day.

“Long enough that you’re planning on taking a smoking break again?” Oikawa challenged. 

“Relax, I’m not taking a smoke break.” At least he wasn’t yet. He’d have to if he planned on finding Terushima at some point in the day.

“Ah, but you did lie about going home.”

“He’s good at finding tells for that sort of thing. Mostly from trying to figure out people’s tics in volleyball,” Kuroo told Iwaizumi. 

Iwaizumi sighed, and flicked Oikawa’s forehead. “You’re not gonna be satisfied until I say I’m free and we can do something, are you?”

“Why must you always attack my face?” Oikawa asked, rubbing his forehead.

“You saying you want me to attack other places?” Iwaizumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I would like to not be attacked at all.”

“I don’t think you’re gonna get that. Tough luck.” Iwaizumi chuckled quietly at Oikawa’s dumb pouting face. It was kind of cute.

“It’s rude to hurt your friends.” Oikawa said indignantly.

“I thought it was called tough love.” Iwaizumi lightly ruffled Oikawa’s hair, “Keep looking dumb like that and I really might leave though. You wanted to hang out?” Iwaizumi could visit the hospital another time. It wouldn’t hurt to put it off for a few hours to a day and besides, he was putting it off to avoid getting found out. At least that’s what he told himself.

Oikawa’s eyes lit up and he nodded. “Oh, hey, you said you used to play volleyball right? Want to help us practice? We can have a two-on-two game, and you can pick whoever you want to be on your team,” he suggested.

“Meaning I can pick not you?” Iwaizumi said dryly.

“If you’re ready to lose to me,” Oikawa replied with a smirk.

“In your dreams.” And with that, they raced towards the gym with Kuroo and Bokuto trailing along behind them.

“Wait, who are you teaming up with?” Bokuto asked when they were all at the gym.

“Let me help you pick. Blocker.” Kuroo pointed at himself. “Spiker.” He pointed at Bokuto. “And setter.” He pointed at Oikawa. “Those are the specialities of your options.”

Iwaizumi pointed at Kuroo, “Least annoying sounds good to me.”

“What?” Bokuto and Oikawa said at the same time.

“Fine. Bokuto and I are going to kick ass.” Oikawa declared, setting up the net and getting out a ball.

They played several sets, their games lasting much longer than Iwaizumi had thought they would and in the end Oikawa and Bokuto beat them by four measly points.

“Hey hey hey!” Bokuto cheered and high fived with Oikawa.

“Told you that you’d lose,” Oikawa said smugly to Iwaizumi and Kuroo.

Iwaizumi was just really impressed with the three players around him, especially Oikawa. He hadn’t figured them to be  _ that _ good. “You did. Nice to know you aren’t just all talk.”

“I don’t brag if I can’t back it up,” Oikawa told him.

Iwaizumi ruffled Oikawa’s hair, which was slightly damp from sweat. “Good.”

“You’re pretty good too. With some training, you and I might have been closer to beating them,” Kuroo said, patting Iwaizumi’s shoulder.

“I think we did pretty good. I haven’t played for a few years now, didn’t think I still had it in me.” He kind of missed the rush of playing, of keeping the ball up in the air and of diving to the ground for it.

“If you kick the smoking habit, you can try out for the team. We’re always looking for strong players,” Oikawa suggested.

“Nah, I’m good. It’s nice playing but I don’t think I wanna be on a team after so long.”

Oikawa pouted for a moment, but perked up quickly enough. “Okay. Well, if you wanna have a rematch some time, just let us know.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t help his grin as Oikawa smiled at him, “I’ll remember to.”

Oikawa’s heart rate may or may not have sped up a bit when Iwaizumi grinned. “You wanna borrow my shower again or are you just heading home?”

As much as Iwaizumi wanted to stay, he had work to do. “Think I’m gonna head home.”

Oikawa looked a bit disappointed, but nodded. “Alright. Don’t forget the assignment due tomorrow.”

Iwaizumi nodded, heading out of the gym with a wave to the three and a promise to see them the next day. Once he was a decently good distance away, he pulled up the directions to the hospital on his phone. Hopefully it was still visiting hours.

* * *

Iwaizumi almost wanted to gag at how lovestruck Bokuto was towards the person he assumed was his boyfriend. As he’d promised, he had decided to attend the university’s next volleyball game, and as he’d guessed, Bokuto was practically all over one of the members of the other team. It was almost cute. In a disgusting sort of way.

“Iwa-chan! You came!” Oikawa shouted across the gym, looking both surprised and delighted.

He was already reconsidering his decision of coming to the game as he sighed exasperatedly, and buried his face in a palm, waving Oikawa away with the other.

Instead of walking away Oikawa jogged over. “I didn’t think you would come.” He told him.

With Oikawa close enough, Iwaizumi delivered a swift jab to his ribs, “Don’t shout across the gym like that, idiot!”

“Ow! I’m about to play a game! Don’t injure me!” Oikawa protested.

“Then don’t act like an idiot,” he bit out, but he’d released most of his annoyance with that hit he gave Oikawa, so he also gave him a pat on the shoulder, “Good luck.”

Oikawa smiled at him. “Thanks.” He then turned back to the court. “Bokuto! Let go of him and start on your warm ups.” He ordered.

Iwaizumi let out an amused snicker as Bokuto visibly deflated and let go of his boyfriend, “He loves him so much, it’s almost disgusting.”

“Watch. Akaashi loves him too.” Oikawa pointed. Sure enough his shoulders drooped slightly as he watched Bokuto walk to the other side of the gym. 

“It’s cute, I guess.” Iwaizumi turned his head towards Oikawa, “Shouldn’t you be warming up too?”

“Absolutely, but I had to come say hi to you and make sure Bokuto and Akaashi were done making heart eyes at each other.” He said. “Any chance I can get a kiss for good luck?”

“Not a chance,” his answer was immediate.

“Fine fine.” He said dismissively before adding, “Thank you though. For coming.”

Iwaizumi awkwardly rubbed his neck, “Yeah, well I said I would.”

Oikawa smiled brightly at him before moving back across the court to warm up with the rest of his team.

Iwaizumi watched as the teams warmed up and faced each other. The game went by fairly fast in his eyes, and it made him almost a little nostalgic. He kind of missed volleyball, and playing in games, but watching was nice too, which may or may not have been a result of his eyes being instinctively drawn towards Oikawa throughout the match.

“Iwa-chan, do you want to hang out with me and Kuroo? Bokuto and Akaashi snuck off, so we’re getting ice cream without them.” Oikawa offered after the game.

“You should probably shower first, but sure I’ll go.”

Oikawa nodded. “Wait here then. We’ll shower in the locker room and then go.” He waved and walked off with Kuroo to become presentable, still smiling about the win, and Iwaizumi’s eyes may or may not have lingered on that smile as Oikawa walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a few weeks since he had tried to question the kid and had gotten nowhere. He didn’t have any new leads either, but he put that aside. Investigations like this could take time after all. Instead, he focused on Oikawa, who hadn’t even glanced at him once since he’d walked into class, already wearing his glasses and writing away in his notebook. 

Iwaizumi found it only a little strange, considering it was midterm season. From what he’d heard from Kuroo, Oikawa didn’t tend to do much other than study and go to practice during this time of year, which was a little worrying to Iwaizumi. He was planning to visit their dorm later, telling only Kuroo about it in advance to make sure Oikawa couldn’t reject the idea.  

“Thirty hours and counting,” Kuroo said when he spotted Iwaizumi.

“Well he’s acting  _ a little  _ different. Probably gonna try to get him to shut down tonight. Sorry if that kills our bet.” Iwaizumi didn’t really think testing Oikawa’s human status was all that important during midterms.

“He’s not acting different for midterms time. It’s even worse during finals. But if you can make him sleep more power to you,” Kuroo said with a shrug. “I’m pretty sure that’s his third time drafting that paper.”

“We’ll see how well I do later tonight. Might not leave until late night, if you don’t mind.”

“Stay as long as you want,” Kuroo replied with a shrug.

* * *

Later that night, Iwaizumi knocked on Oikawa and Kuroo’s door with a few books tucked under his arm, planning to use the excuse of wanting to study together.

“Yo, c’mon in,” Kuroo said when he answered the door. “Tooru, Iwaizumi’s here.”

“Did we have plans with Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, looking up from his laptop with confusion.

“Came to study,” Iwaizumi held up his books, “Thought your weirdly smart brain could help if I got stuck.”

Oikawa glanced at the textbooks dubiously. “I don’t have all of those classes, but I can try.” He said uncertainly. “Let me know when you need something.” And with that he adjusted his glasses and went back to his laptop.

Iwaizumi ended up studying a bit, mostly waiting for a decent time for Oikawa to go to sleep. Telling him to sleep ridiculously early in the evening wouldn’t really get him anywhere. Once ten o’clock hit—Kuroo was across the hall taking a study break with Bokuto—he put his book away and placed a hand on top of Oikawa’s laptop, “You should sleep.”

“In a little bit.” Oikawa didn’t even glance up from his computer, continuing to type.

Iwaizumi sighed. “Did you remember to save?”

This time Oikawa did look up, looking between Iwaizumi’s hand and his face suspiciously. “Don’t you dare.”

“At least I’m giving you a chance to save,” Iwaizumi threatened by lowering the laptop screen just an inch.

“Iwa-chan, stop. I’m perfectly fine. It’s only ten!” He did save just in case.

“You haven’t slept in two days, don’t give me that ‘I’m fine’ bullshit.” Iwaizumi closed the laptop before Oikawa could say anything else.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa reopened it.

Iwaizumi took it away from him, picking it up to move it onto Kuroo’s bed. He returned back to Oikawa’s desk simply to wheel the chair towards his own bed, “Sleep.”

“Knock it off. I'm capable of taking care of myself,” he complained. “I've got to work on that paper. I'm on my fifth draft and it's still not good enough.”

“If you're ‘capable’ then you should actually do it. You can finish your paper tomorrow.”

“I'm doing a different assignment tomorrow. Iwa-chan, it's only ten o’clock, this is ridiculous. Who goes to bed this early?”

Iwazumi moved to sit on the bed while keeping a firm hand on the chair to ensure Oikawa wouldn't move it away. He gave him a stern look, “Someone who hasn't slept in two days.”

“Okay, but consider the following: I have things to do. One more hour,” he tried to bargain.

Iwaizumi didn't budge. He harshly pinched Oikawa’s cheek with a glare. “Sleep. Now”

Oikawa let out a small yelp when his face was grabbed, glaring back at Iwaizumi. “An hour.”

“You and I both know if I give you that hour you’re just gonna keep asking for more. Sleep now.”

“You don't know that unless you give me the hour,” Oikawa argued.

Iwaizumi gave him a disbelieving look. “I do know. Don’t make me force you into bed.”

“How romantic,” Oikawa deadpanned. “Really. You should say something like that in front of the police.”

The irony of what Oikawa said only caused Iwaizumi sigh harder. “You know what I mean. Go to sleep.”

“No,” Oikawa said petulantly.

He really hadn’t wanted to actually  _ force  _ Oikawa to sleep, but if Oikawa insisted on being stubborn and continuing to ruin his health, Iwaizumi could be stubborn too. He picked up Oikawa’s blanket, draping it over his shoulders before wrapping it tightly around him. He lifted Oikawa up off the chair, which was harder than he thought it would be, and plopped him on his bed.

“Iwa-chan, this is dumb. You’re overreacting. I stay up late all the time.”

“There’s a difference between staying up late and  _ not sleeping. _ I’m not gonna leave until you pass out.”

“Let me finish my paper and I’ll go to sleep easier because I won’t be worried about that.”

Iwaizumi looked at him skeptically. “How long is that gonna take you?”

Oikawa shrugged as best he could while wrapped in the blanket. “I don’t know. Hopefully an hour.”

Iwaizumi groaned loudly. “If I give you an hour, you go to sleep no matter what, no complaints. If you do complain I’ll sit on you until you sleep. Got it?”

“Not really. How do you expect me to sleep with you sitting on me?”

“Then I guess you shouldn't complain.”

Oikawa didn't reply, instead opting to maneuver himself out of his blanket, adjust the glasses that had gone askew, and quickly grab his laptop to get started.

After exactly an hour had passed, and Iwaizumi had spent almost the entirety of that hour glaring at Oikawa’s back, he spoke up. “You done? ‘Cause you’re sleeping even if you’re not.”

“Can I finish my sentence?” Oikawa asked. “I don't want to forget what it was.”

“Just hurry up,” Iwaizumi grumbled. Dealing with Oikawa made him want to just steal Kuroo’s bed for the night. Oikawa was more exhausting to deal with than he had wanted him to be. Though no more than he had actually expected him to be.

“Okay.” Oikawa said when he finished it, pulling out his phone to set an alarm for two hours later. Iwaizumi didn't need to know, and a nap would do him some good he supposed. He put his glasses on the nightstand and went to first the bathroom to brush his teeth and then his dresser to grab some pajamas.

“Think I can take Kuroo’s bed without him trying to kill me if he comes back?” Iwaizumi asked, more as a way to distract himself from staring at Oikawa changing.

Kuroo was probably sleeping in Bokuto’s room, considering the time, but since Oikawa didn't want Iwaizumi to yell at him when his alarm went off he didn't mention that. “He's not a fan of interruptions to his sleeping.” Not a lie at least.

Iwaizumi nodded with a sigh—he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and he completely blamed that on Oikawa. “I’m taking your desk chair then,” he announced as he sat down and tried to make himself comfortable, which was only somewhat feasible with his shirt on. He could deal with it though. He certainly wasn’t going to sleep on a chair half naked like he would usually on a bed,it was definitely not warm enough for that.

“You're going to sleep on my desk chair? And you lecture me about my health? That's so bad for your neck and back,” Oikawa protested.

Iwaizumi shrugged, it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d slept at a desk. “I’d go home, but I don’t trust you to sleep the whole night.”

Oikawa winced a little at that since he  _ wasn’t  _ planning on sleeping the whole night. “I don’t remember agreeing to a full night's sleep.”

“Well that’s what you’re getting and that’s why I’m staying.”

“Iwa-chaaaan...” Oikawa whined.

“Stop whining and go to sleep!” Iwaizumi pointed towards Oikawa’s bed.

“Fine.” He mumbled, plugging headphones into his phone and putting them in to keep his alarm from waking up Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi didn’t think too much of it. Oikawa could have been one of those odd people who listened to music to help them sleep. Iwaizumi waited a good thirty minutes before he got up to slowly approach Oikawa’s bed to make sure that he was actually asleep. Finding Oikawa with his breathing steady and his eyes closed, Iwaizumi slowly tried to slip away Oikawa’s phone. The headphones, unfortunately, didn’t want to cooperate with him, getting caught underneath Oikawa.

Oikawa’s eyebrows furrowed and his eyes closed slightly tighter before opening a bit to look blurrily at Iwaizumi. “Iwa-chan?” He mumbled with something that was probably “What are you doing?” after it.

Iwaizumi sighed; he should have known Oikawa was a light sleeper. “Being bad at my job of making sure you stay asleep. Just go back to sleep.”

“Okay,” he agreed sleepily, leaning up and pressing a kiss to the corner of Iwaizumi’s mouth before curling up under his blanket again.

Iwaizumi’s eyes widened and his breath got caught in his throat. Even though he’d been rejecting Oikawa’s advances thus far, a part of him wanted to wake Oikawa up just to press his lips to his again but the other part told him to let Oikawa sleep, and that it was possible that Oikawa would forget about it in the morning so it didn’t really matter. Instead, he settled on just simply petting his hair in affection.

Oikawa leaned into the touch, and soon enough his breathing was even again.

Iwaizumi knew he was staring, but he couldn't really help it. Oikawa looked so relaxed and Iwaizumi couldn't help but think Oikawa looked best like that. No mask or emotions put on for show. Just Oikawa. Gently moving his hand away from Oikawa’s hair, after managing to pull his gaze away from his face, Iwaizumi went back to trying to slip Oikawa’s phone away from him.

“Iwa-chan, stop it,” Oikawa whined tiredly, curling up further under his blankets.

“Just sleep,” Iwaizumi mumbled. There was no way he was going to leave Oikawa’s phone next to him, especially not if Oikawa was this light of a sleeper. The stupid thing could go off or make the smallest vibration and the idiot would wake up.

“I'm trying. You're keeping me up.” With an exasperated sigh he wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi’s waist and pulled him onto the bed, cuddling up against him. “Sleep.” He punctuated the word with another quick kiss.

A strangled sound left Iwaizumi’s mouth as Oikawa pulled him down, and when he kissed him again Iwaizumi only found it all the more tempting to just kiss him deeper. Iwaizumi knew he shouldn't have, Oikawa needed his sleep but he couldn't help it, not when Oikawa was holding him so closely that he could feel his breath ghost over his face. He closed the very small gap between them and pressed his lips to Oikawa’s.

Oikawa automatically kissed back for a moment before his tired brain caught up with the situation and he let out a slightly startled sound against Iwaizumi’s lips, but didn't actually try to pull away.

“You started it,” Iwaizumi mumbled against Oikawa’s mouth, his eyes half lidded.

“Did I?” He couldn't say he remembered, but he certainly wasn't upset with the situation.

“You're a damn flirt, even in your sleep.” Iwaizumi wasn’t actually all that surprised, if anything he probably expected it from Oikawa.

“I can't comment. I don't know what happened. Weren't you in a desk chair?”

Iwaizumi arched an eyebrow, not that Oikawa could really see it with the lights in the room off. “Did you want me to go back to the chair? You’re the one who pulled me down.”

“I’m pretty sure I told you that sleeping in the chair was bad for you,” Oikawa reminded him.

“Uh huh. That’s why I’m in bed with you, right? You’re just looking out for my health?” Iwaizumi lazily ran his fingers through Oikawa’s hair, combing it back.

“Of course. I am trying to be a doctor after all.” Oikawa answered, relaxing further as Iwaizumi messed with his hair.

Iwaizumi gave a quiet scoff followed by a chuckle. “Just go back to sleep.” He pressed a kiss to Oikawa’s forehead and cuddled closer to him.

“Will you stop waking me up if I do?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just pass out already.”

“Okay.” Oikawa let his eyes shut again, trying to fall back asleep for the short amount of time he had before his alarm would wake him up since his headphones were still in.

Not long after they fell asleep, Oikawa’s alarm went off and he carefully tried to extract himself from Iwaizumi’s arms to get back to his computer.

“No,” Iwaizumi groaned and held whatever was moving around in his arms tighter.

Oikawa tensed for a second, but it didn’t seem like Iwaizumi was actually awake so, a bit slower this time, he started trying to move again.

Iwaizumi threw a leg over Oikawa’s to further trap him under him. “Stop moving, pretty boy.”

“Iwa-chan, I’ve gotta get up,” he whined.

Iwaizumi was, unfortunately, starting to regain consciousness to which he simply buried his face into Oikawa’s hair, fully intent on falling back asleep. “Is the sun up?”

“No. Probably not,” Oikawa reluctantly answered.

“Then neither are you. Go back to sleep.”

“Okay, but what if I just want to go to the bathroom? Is that not allowed either?” he tried.

Iwaizumi, with his sleep-addled mind, had to think about that for a second. “You could. If I believed you.”

“Iwa-chan, that's not fair!” Oikawa protested, trying to get out of his grip again.

Sighing, Iwaizumi silenced Oikawa’s complaints with a long, slow kiss before pulling back to go back to sleep. “Shut up.”

Oikawa wasn't blushing. He was just a bit surprised was all. He could try to get up in a few minutes he supposed. With that thought in mind he snuggled up to Iwaizumi and waited for him to fall back asleep.

“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to sleep, not just stare at me.” Iwaizumi didn’t need to see to know that Oikawa’s eyes were trying to focus on his face.

“Shh. I’m sleeping.”

“Good. That’s what you should be doing for the next few hours.” Iwaizumi tucked Oikawa’s head underneath his chin to cuddle him closer, pressing a brief kiss to his hair.

“Yeah, yeah, shhh,” Oikawa said quietly.

He waited until Iwaizumi was sleeping again, and this time did slip out of his arms. He moved over to his computer immediately to start working on his paper.

Iwaizumi woke up when he noticed the loss of warmth in his arms. Groaning slightly as he sat up he sleepily approached the only source of light in the room. Resting his chin on top Oikawa’s head, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He squinted at the light coming from the laptop and placed a hand on top of the screen, threatening to close it. “Go back to sleep.”

“I slept! Stop bullying me into being healthy!” Oikawa complained, typing faster to try and get more done before it would be closed.

Iwaizumi waited until it looked like Oikawa was at the end of a sentence before closing the laptop shut. “‘Kay, come back to bed.”

“Iwa-chan, I’ve gotta get this done, and it has to be perfect, and it isn’t yet!” Oikawa opened it again.

Iwaizumi ground his chin into Oikawa’s head, with little to no force due to his drowsy state. “Make it perfect in the morning.”

“I  _ can’t.  _ I have other work to do in the morning. And class. And a study group session.”  

Iwaizumi blindly reached down Oikawa’s face, patting at it until he found his cheek to pinch it. “Come back to bed so I can sleep.”

“You can sleep without me.” Oikawa protested as he kept typing.

Yawning loudly, Iwaizumi wheeled Oikawa’s chair back towards the bed and collapsed onto it with Oikawa in his arms. “Keep me warm,” he mumbled.

“Iwa-chan, I really need to work.” Oikawa struggled in Iwaizumi’s arms.

“No, you don’t. You’re gonna finish all your shit even if you sleep tonight, which you should.”

“But what if I don’t? What if I don’t finish and I get a bad grade, and my future is ruined because I can’t be a doctor because I decided to take a night off when I should have been working?”

“You know you’re gonna finish. I know you’re gonna finish. You’ll be fine. You can punch me if you don’t.”

“I  _ don’t _ know that I’m gonna finish though! That’s the problem!”

Iwaizumi sighed, briefly wondering if kissing Oikawa would get him to comply and decided he was a little too tired to put effort into anything other than sleeping at the moment. “How much more paper do you have to write?”

“As much as it takes to get it right,” Oikawa said firmly.

“And how long will that take?” Iwaizumi asked with a raised brow.

“I don’t know.” That didn’t come out as firm.

Iwaizumi kicked the blanket up to pull it over him and Oikawa. “Then looks like you’re sleeping.”

Oikawa gave a resigned sigh, going limp in Iwaizumi’s arms as he realized he wasn’t going to win this. “Fine.”

Iwaizumi pressed a kiss to Oikawa’s forehead before letting himself drift back to sleep, sure that Oikawa couldn’t escape his arms this time.

* * *

Iwaizumi was just about to approach Terushima during one of his very rare, non-high moments when his phone started to buzz in his pocket. Suppressing a groan he pulled it out without checking who it was and answered with a gruff, “Hello?”  

“H-hey, Iwa-chan. Are you busy?” Oikawa’s voice came through his phone, but it sounded off. The cheerfulness in his greeting sounded forced, and his voice sounded strained.

This time Iwaizumi let his groan sound loudly through his lips, “What did you do?”

“Nothing, nothing!” Oikawa tried to assure him. “I just... promise not to tell Tetsu-chan? Or Bokuto.”

“Just tell me what you did and where you are.” Iwaizumi supposed he’d just have to hold off on questioning Terushima  _ again. _

“I’m in the gym. I was trying to do some extra practice since I think I’ve been slacking off a bit for studying, but... ah, I think I hurt myself, and I can’t get up.” He tried to laugh to make it seem like no big deal, but it sounded more pained than anything.

“Why are you so fucking reckless?” Iwaizumi sighed loudly, “I’ll be there in a few.”

* * *

“Heya, Iwa-chan. How’s it going?” Oikawa greeted when the door to the gym opened to reveal him sitting on the floor, smiling even though he looked like he’d been crying earlier.

Iwaizumi felt his heart sink from the expression on Oikawa’s face and crouched down beside him with a look of concern. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know. I was practicing my jump serve and when I landed my knee hurt and I fell over and every time I try to get up I fall down again.” He looked at his knee like it had betrayed him.

Iwaizumi flicked him in the forehead. “You need to stop being so terrible to yourself.” He wrapped his arms around Oikawa’s torso and pulled him up onto his feet.

Oikawa’s face drained of color and he winced slightly, but made no complaints as he leaned some of his weight onto Iwaizumi.

“How bad is it?” Iwaizumi asked, trying to support Oikawa as best he could. It was harder than he would have preferred given their height difference.

“Not that bad. I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow,” Oikawa lied. “I should maybe go to the nurse though. For an ice pack or something.”

“There’s no way it’s not that bad if you couldn’t even stand. I’m taking you to the doctor.”

“Yeah, okay.” He wanted to try and argue more that he was fine, but it was hard to do that when he felt like he was going to collapse on Iwaizumi at any second.

Iwaizumi shifted their positions, putting an arm around Oikawa’s waist, “You can lean on me more, you know. I’m not gonna fall if you do.”

“I’m fine,” Oikawa insisted even as he did lean a bit more on Iwaizumi.

“Yeah, I’ll believe you when the doctor tells me the same thing.” Iwaizumi let Oikawa lead at his pace, not wanting to strain his knee any more than he needed to. They made their way slowly towards the on campus medical center which was, luckily, not too far away from the gym.

Oikawa stayed quiet until they were almost there. “Sorry for bugging you with this, Iwa-chan. You already stayed over to make sure I got some rest, and now I’m making you help me to the doctor.”

Iwaizumi’s eyebrows knit together, “Why do you need to apologize for that?” As far as Iwaizumi was concerned, he was choosing to help Oikawa.

“Because I’m the one staying up late and hurting myself, and you’re taking time out of your schedule because of it.”

“Yeah, but I want to help you. You’re not making me do this.”

“Still. Sorry,” he mumbled as they walked through the doors to the school doctor’s office.

Making sure the doctor wasn’t in the room, Iwaizumi lightly hit Oikawa over the head after helping him sit down on the bed. “Don’t apologize for needing help. It’s normal to need help from people.”

“Ow! Don’t hit injured people, Iwa-chan! What if I’ve got a concussion now?”

“I didn’t even hit you that hard.” Iwaizumi lightly rubbed the spot he had hit regardless.

“Do you think this will affect my volleyball?” Oikawa asked quietly, staring down at his knee.

Iwaizumi wasn’t going to lie to him, it wouldn’t do anything to lie to him. “It might.”

Oikawa laid down on the bed to stare at the ceiling instead. “I know they won’t let me play for at least a few weeks. The best I can expect is a brace I think. If they give me crutches it’s worse than I thought.” He put an arm over his eyes to both block out the bright lights in his face and to make sure they stayed dry.

Iwaizumi combed his fingers through Oikawa’s hair and was about to move Oikawa’s arm off his face to look him in the eyes when the doctor walked in. Iwaizumi coughed awkwardly from the embarrassed look on the doctor's face and moved away from Oikawa.

“So, um, what brings you here today?” The doctor asked, ignoring the awkward atmosphere and pretending he didn’t just walk into what was probably about to be an intimate moment.

“My knee. I was practicing jump serves, and now it’s bothering me. I had to get Iwa-chan to help me up to get here.”

Half an hour later he had a brace, pain medication, and orders to not participate in practice for at least three weeks and to come back before actually practicing to make sure that it was safe. As soon as the doctor walked away Oikawa collapsed back onto the bed to stare blankly at the ceiling again. “Three weeks. Minimum. And even at the end of that they’re going to tell me to take it easy. I’m the captain.”

With the doctor finally gone, Iwaizumi went back to combing his fingers through Oikawa’s hair in an attempt to comfort him. “At least it’s not permanent.”

“Hopefully. If I’m not careful it might become permanent.” He imagined all sorts of scenarios that could ruin his entire sports career. Tripping down stairs, starting to practice too early, working too hard without realizing it, staying on his knee too long and not knowing how long was too long until it was too late… the list went on and on.

Iwaizumi stood himself over Oikawa, to get him to look him in the eyes. “You’re not gonna make it permanent, you’re too meticulous for that. And besides, I’m here to make sure you don’t.”

Oikawa smiled a little at Iwaizumi. “Thanks, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi returned the smile, and expressed the affection he felt in the only way he knew how, by flicking his forehead. “Let’s go. The sterile air is starting to get to me.”

“Someday, I will get a concussion, and you’ll feel bad,” Oikawa declared, sitting up and carefully getting off of the bed, taking a sharp breath when his foot touched the ground.

“It’ll heal,” Iwaizumi offered. The look on Oikawa’s face was killing him. He helped him up the same way he had back at the gym, wrapping an arm around his waist.

“Concussions can leave lasting damage, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa said as he leaned against Iwaizumi.

“I meant your knee, but concussions heal too.”

“...I’m gonna have to tell Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa realized suddenly, hanging his head.

“Kuroo’s gonna find out even if you don’t tell him,” Iwaizumi pointed out as he helped Oikawa out of the office and back towards his dorm room.

“He’s gonna get mad at me. He told me I was overworking myself, and he’s vice captain so he’s going to have so much work to do.”

Iwaizumi could see him starting to get stressed out again. “He’s not gonna be mad at you. More likely he’s gonna be worried.”

“No. He’ll be mad. And worried. But also mad.”

“Look,” Iwaizumi said sternly, “if he’s mad then it’s only because he thinks you should take better care of yourself, and I agree with that. You’re so goddamn reckless when it comes to your health.”

It turned out Oikawa didn’t have to wait to get back to his dorm for Kuroo to find out. Apparently word had already spread that Oikawa was injured, and as they got closer to the dorms, Kuroo came striding over. “Tooru! What happened?”

“Ah, nothing, nothing, Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa said on reflex, quickly plastering on a smile.

“He hurt his knee practicing in the gym.” Iwaizumi didn’t want to go through the long process of Oikawa trying to deny what happened.

“You what? Didn’t I  _ tell  _ you that you were going to hurt yourself, and that if you were going to do extra practice to have someone with you?” Kuroo exclaimed, sounding angry even as he went to Oikawa’s other side to help Iwaizumi move him so that Oikawa put as little of his weight as possible on his leg.

“You did,” Oikawa mumbled.

Iwaizumi had never expected Kuroo to get mad. He didn’t think Kuroo had the capability to get mad. He always seemed so laid back. “He sure is an idiot, isn’t he?”

“You got that right,” Kuroo muttered. “How long did the doctor say you’re off practice, Tooru?”

“Three weeks.”

“Four and a half then,” Kuroo said firmly.

“What? No, but Tet—”

“As your vice captain, roommate, and friend, I’m telling you you’re not hurting yourself anymore. Four and a half weeks, and I don’t even want to see you  _ in  _ the gym for at least a week.”

A sound halfway between a whimper and a whine left Oikawa at the those words, but he didn’t say anything against it, choosing not to argue considering Kuroo’s no-nonsense tone.

“I’ll keep watch over him during that week, if you want,” Iwaizumi offered.

“If you don’t mind,” Kuroo said with a sigh.

Iwaizumi nodded, ignoring Oikawa’s cries of protest and of how he didn’t need a babysitter.

“Fine. Whatever.” Oikawa slumped a bit, and Kuroo simply took more of his weight to keep him from hurting himself.

After getting to Oikawa and Kuroo’s dorm room, Iwaizumi and Kuroo slowly lowered Oikawa onto his bed, Iwaizumi sitting down next to him. “I think you need a babysitter, Shittykawa.”

“I disagree, as someone who used to babysit for money,” Oikawa said, and then covered his mouth when he let out a small yelp of pain as Kuroo moved his leg to put pillows under it for elevation.

“You okay?” Kuroo asked worriedly.

Oikawa didn’t move his hand and just nodded.

Iwaizumi glared at him with skeptical eyes. “He’s not okay.”

Kuroo sighed and moved so that he was sitting next to Oikawa as well, staring down at him. “You want to be a doctor, Tooru. Do you want patients lying to you about how much pain they are in and saying they are fine when they aren’t?”

Oikawa shook his head, slowly moving his hand away from his mouth. “No.”

“Then stop saying you’re fine. Right now, tell me about your knee,” Kuroo demanded.

Oikawa looked between Kuroo and Iwaizumi before mumbling. “I feel a little sick from pain since the medication hasn’t kicked in yet, and I don’t know what being stabbed feels like, but I imagine my knee feels a lot like it would if it were stabbed.”

Kuroo’s gaze softened a bit. “There. Was that so hard?”

“Yes.”

Iwaizumi placed a comforting hand on Oikawa’s shoulder. “You want ice on it for now?”

Oikawa nodded at the question.

“There’s an ice machine downstairs, I'll get some.” Kuroo got up and left the room to get the ice, stopping briefly in the bathroom to grab a towel to wrap the ice in.

The minute Kuroo left, Iwaizumi leaned over to press a chaste kiss to Oikawa’s temple. “You’re stupid, you know that?”

“I feel like I’ll be hearing it a lot over the next few weeks,” he replied.

“You know I’m watching over you ‘cause I care, right?”

Oikawa smiled a bit at that. “I know. I didn't think I’d get to hear you say it, but I know.”

Iwaizumi turned away, a little embarrassed by his confession. “I thought you needed it.”

Oikawa leaned up slightly, pecking Iwaizumi on the cheek. “Thank you. I care about you too, Iwa-chan.”

It was at that moment that Kuroo came back with the ice wrapped in a towel, “Ohoho? Did I miss something?” Iwaizumi could just barely hear Kuroo quietly laughing at them.

“Not really, since you knew I was interested in him. Iwa-chan just learned expressing feelings and it's really nice, but I still really want the ice.”

Iwaizumi felt heat travel up his neck to his ears. “Shut up,” he muttered.

“Good for you guys.” Kuroo patted Iwaizumi’s shoulder and then put the ice down on Oikawa’s leg. “I know, Tooru, but it will help,” he said in response to the sharp intake of breath Oikawa took when the ice touched him.

Iwaizumi, while still avoiding both Kuroo and Oikawa’s eyes, slid his hand over to hold Oikawa’s to offer him a little comfort.

“Should I spend the night with Bo again?” Kuroo asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I never said I was staying the night,” Iwaizumi muttered, tempted to throw something at Kuroo and his stupid smug face.

Kuroo held up his hands in surrender. “Whatever man. I've got practice. Let me know if you don't want me to come back.”

Oikawa looked longingly at his own gym bag as Kuroo picked his up and left.

“You’ll be back in the gym in no time. Just be patient.” Iwaizumi let go of Oikawa’s hand to give him a gentle pat on the head.

“We’re supposed to play Ushiwaka-chan next week,” Oikawa mumbled, sinking further into his pillow.

Iwaizumi moved to lie down next to him. “You’ll get another chance to kick his ass.”

Oikawa just pouted as he imagined Ushijima smugly telling him that he wouldn’t have gotten hurt if he had gone to his school instead or something like that.

Iwaizumi sighed, pushing himself up slightly to peck Oikawa’s lips with a kiss, wiping away his pout. Iwaizumi knew he should leave. He had to question Terushima at some point, and he’d been putting it off for a very long time, but… “Want me to stay tonight?”

“If you want to, I’d like that,” Oikawa said with a tiny smile.

Iwaizumi lightly pinched Oikawa’s cheek with a small smile spreading across his lips, “I asked if  _ you  _ wanted me to stay. Don’t throw the question back at me.”

“And I said that I’d like that, I just want to make sure you want to.” His eyelids started to droop as the pain medication started to kick in. “Can you get me coffee though? I still have work to do.”

“No. Let the pain meds take over.” As far as Iwaizumi was concerned, Oikawa needed the sleep. Iwaizumi wouldn’t mind a nap either.

“Iwa-chan!” he whined. “I have work to do.”

“I think a nap sounds pretty good right now,” Iwaizumi openly ignored Oikawa as he sat up to pull off his shirt before lying back down.

Oikawa’s eyes widened, and he felt a bit more awake at that. He narrowed his eyes after getting over the surprise. “...Are you trying to seduce me into going to sleep?” he asked suspiciously.

Iwaizumi cocked an eyebrow at him, “No? Why?”

“Your shirt. You don’t have it,” Oikawa said accusingly.

“Yeah. I don’t sleep with a shirt normally. The only reason I did last time I was here was because I was going to sleep on a chair before  _ someone _ pulled me into their bed.”

“This isn’t fair. I’m on pain medication.” He pouted at Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi propped himself up, resting his head on his hand. “What’s not fair? We’re taking a nap.”

“You’re taking a nap. I have school work to do,” Oikawa countered.

“You’re not doing anything. Just let the drowsy meds put you to sleep.” Iwaizumi fell back onto the pillow and draped and an arm over Oikawa’s waist.

“No. I went to sleep last night. I have to work today,” he protested, but it was mumbled and his eyes struggling to keep open to continue sending pleading looks at Iwaizumi.

“Uh huh.” Iwaizumi moved the arm around Oikawa’s waist up to comb through his hair.

“I have a test tomorrow,” he tried, eyes refusing to open after he closed them for a moment.

“I’ll wake you up in a few hours,” Iwaizumi kept his voice low, noticing Oikawa slowly falling to sleep.

“Promise?” Oikawa asked.

“I promise.” Iwaizumi found it hard not to smile a little. Oikawa was kind of cute like this.

He made a content hum at that and finally let himself fall asleep. 


	4. Chapter 4

“I'm busy right now, whatever it is can wait,” Oikawa said when he glanced up from the notes he was studying before class the next day and saw Terushima standing in front of him.

“It’ll only take a minute. I heard you fucked up your knee something awful… I'm guessing you got some pain meds for that, right?” 

Oikawa sighed, already knowing where this was going. “Yeah, but they make me tired so I'm not really using them before classes. Which means I'm not exactly in the mood for this conversation.” He'd managed to get some help getting to his classes from some of his fans who didn't need any more motivation than a sheepish smile aimed their way to offer to help him out when it meant getting to be so close to him. 

Terushima grinned, not seeming to take the hint that Oikawa wanted to be left alone to study. “But if you're not using them, you’ll probably have some left over,” he pointed out. “If you give me the leftover stuff I can give you a cut of whatever I make from them.” 

“Not interested in ruining my career as a doctor by dealing, thanks though,” he said, still looking down at his notes, not even noticing that Iwaizumi had come in at some point and probably heard that he’d lied to him that morning about taking his medication. 

Iwaizumi hadn’t expected the first thing he heard upon entering the classroom to be about potential drug deals. He could feel betrayal creep its way up his throat for a second at the mere thought of Oikawa possibly being involved with the drug dealings around the campus. His worries were luckily calmed by the almost immediate answer Oikawa gave Terushima. With their topic of conversation, it also finally gave him an actual suspect rather than just a possible witness to the drug deals. He’d have to keep a better eye on Terushima. For the moment, however, he had to keep his cover. “What’s this about you not taking your meds?” he asked as he took his seat next to Oikawa.

Oikawa tensed at that. “Uhh… Nothing? Totally nothing, Iwa-chan,” he replied with a megawatt smile. 

Iwaizumi hit him over the head. “I’m making sure you take them later.” He turned to Terushima, “And stop asking for his meds; he needs that stuff.”

Terushima held up his hands in surrender. “I'm only asking for what he doesn't use, not the stuff he needs,” he argued. “I'm gonna head out. Hit me up if you change your mind, Oikawa.” He waved and left the room while Oikawa adjusted his glasses that had gone askew when Iwaizumi hit him.

“Please tell me you don’t talk to him often.” Iwaizumi was probably a little too thankful that Terushima was gone—from what he’d seen of him, he didn’t like him.

“No, not really. You would see him around more if I did since I talk to you often. I didn't even know he knew my schedule to ask about getting drugs off of me. To be fair, I'm not sure that he knows his own schedule considering he should be in one of my classes, but hasn't come in once this semester,” Oikawa told him, going back to his notes. 

“Just making sure. I thought the guy was just a stoner, didn’t think he was a dealer too.” Iwaizumi tried to make himself look busy by pulling out things from his bag so his words would appear as though he was just saying it in passing.

“I thought everyone knew he was dealing.” Oikawa replied absentmindedly. “Maybe it's cause you don't live on campus. Most deals happen in the dorms since the RAs here suck, so makes sense that you didn't know.”

“Guess I just missed it.” Which was unfortunate. It probably would have made his undercover job a lot easier and probably would have made it go by a lot faster. Although, as Iwaizumi turned to Oikawa, who was still distracted by his notes, he really didn’t think he minded the extended length of his stay in college.

When the teacher walked in, Oikawa reluctantly tore his eyes away from his notes and found Iwaizumi looking at him. He quirked an eyebrow, but didn't ask since the teacher started talking, simply scooting his chair a bit closer to Iwaizumi’s instead. 

Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smile at that. It was a little embarrassing being caught, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. He gave Oikawa’s hand a nudge to acknowledge Oikawa’s discrete show of affection, keeping his eyes trained on the front of the class.

Oikawa smiled a little but didn't react further than that. When class ended he turned to face Iwaizumi. “I'm going to head back to my dorm to work on some assignments,” he informed him, as he'd been doing for the past week because of midterms on days he didn't have another class after this one. “Do you mind helping me there though?” he added when he saw a small group of girls waiting outside of the class, hoping to try and help him to wherever he was going now that class was over. 

Iwaizumi followed his line of sight only to grimace at all the fangirls waiting for Oikawa outside his class. “Yeah, sure.” He helped Oikawa up and slowly walked out the class, past the girls.

“Sorry, ladies, Iwa-chan’s got this one. Your support means a lot though,” Oikawa said with a bright smile as they walked past, which seemed to appease their disappointment over not being able to help.

“You're stupid playboy-flirty thing is annoying, you know.” Iwaizumi knew it was ridiculous to be irritated by such a small thing, but it  _ really _ grated on his nerves to see so many people swoon over just a smile, especially when it was a smile he'd grown attached to.

“Why, are you jealous, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked coyly, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.  

“Maybe I am,” Iwaizumi said it as if it should’ve been obvious, with a small frown.

Oikawa looked a little caught off guard by that. “Wait, what? Of them? Really?” 

Iwaizumi decidedly did not look at Oikawa, and was almost tempted to hit him had he not been injured. “Or maybe I’m just irritated that they hang off you so much, and half the time you let them.”

“But I like  _ you _ ,” Oikawa said simply, still looking confused about Iwaizumi’s jealousy. 

“You don’t have to tell me that being jealous is stupid. I already know.” Simply knowing didn’t exactly mean he could do much about how he felt.

“Good, because that’s exactly what I was going to tell you. If I was interested in them, do you think I would have asked you to help me instead?” 

“Don’t get all smart with me. I know. Maybe we should get you some crutches so you don’t have to ask for their help if I’m not around.”

“Crutches make it seem worse than it is, and I want Kuroo to let me back in the gym as soon as possible,” Oikawa protested. “I could have walked fine if I’d taken my medicine, but I had a test today and I couldn’t risk getting tired during that.” 

“Then looks like you’re taking your medication when we get to your dorm.” Iwaizumi had already been planning to make Oikawa take them regardless of any complaints he’d have.

“Can I study for a few hours first?” Oikawa tried.

“You can study after you take them. It’s not like you haven’t studied drowsy before.”

“You're buying me coffee then,” Oikawa said loftily as they reached the dorm. 

“Fine.” Iwaizumi slowly lowered Oikawa down onto his bed and immediately tossed him his pills on the bedside table along with a bottle of water.

Oikawa rolled his eyes but took the pills anyway. “Pass me my laptop?”

Iwaizumi nodded, handing him his laptop and taking Oikawa’s desk chair. “You want that coffee now or later?”

“Now please. These things will kick in soon, and I want to be fully caffeinated when that happens.”

Iwaizumi nodded and silently got up to head to the door, giving Oikawa a small pat on the head before leaving.

* * *

After a few days of leaving Terushima alone, Iwaizumi decided he had waited long enough to talk to him. He approached as casually as he could and leaned against the wall near him, pulling out his recently emptied cigarette package.

“Need one?” Terushima asked when he noticed the pack was empty. 

“Yeah. Thanks.” He took the offered cigarette, lighting it up to take a short drag from it. He still hated how bad it tasted, despite having to do it so often lately. “So,” he started, still trying to appear casual. “Oikawa told me you deal.”

“University is expensive,” Terushima said with a shrug. “Did he happen tell you if he changed his mind on selling to me? If his sports scholarship goes out like his leg he’ll be needing some cash too,” he added as he lit his own cigarette. 

“He hasn’t,” Iwaizumi said, almost too quickly.

Terushima sighed and took a long drag before answering. “That’s a shame. Probably could have made some good cash off of those things. So, why are you asking?” 

Iwaizumi used his cigarette as an excuse to not give an immediate answer so he could calm himself slightly before answering, “Just wondering about what other stuff you have.”

Terushima glanced at him and shrugged. “I can get whatever you need, unless it’s pain meds, apparently.” 

Iwaizumi’s eyebrow quirked, Terushima was very likely the guy he was looking for, he just needed some actual proof. “Got anything like heroin or coke?”

Terushima let out a low whistle. “The guy who hardly smokes is picking up hardcore drugs now?” 

Iwaizumi shrugged, “Decided to try going clean for a bit and kinda hating it. Need to get back into it.” He really hoped he was better of a liar than Oikawa made him out to be.

He took another drag before replying to that, looking Iwaizumi up and down with slightly narrowed eyes. “Yeah, okay. When you want the stuff?” 

“As soon as possible?”

“Two weeks work for you?” Terushima asked, leaning against the wall. 

It was a little longer than he would have preferred, but he could wait. A few more weeks at university wouldn’t be too bad. “Sounds good.”

“Right. Okay. Well, let’s talk details then.” 

* * *

“Shower. You smell like smoke.” Oikawa pointed towards his bathroom as soon as Iwaizumi walked into his dorm room, probably to make sure that he was taking his medicine or something while Kuroo was at practice.

“I don’t think that completely gets rid of the smell,” Iwaizumi pointed out, sitting down at Oikawa’s desk.

“It helps.” Oikawa said, wrinkling his nose. 

“Did you take your medicine?” Iwaizumi asked, ignoring Oikawa’s demands.

“I did. Take a shower.” 

“Fine, fine.” Iwaizumi didn’t exactly like the smell clinging to him either. He got up and headed to the bathroom. 

“You can borrow some of my clothes if you need to.” Oikawa offered. 

“Thanks,” Iwaizumi called out before closing the door on him. Ten minutes later Iwaizumi came out with only his boxers on and a towel slung over his shoulder, his hair still dripping. “Can you toss me some clothes?”

Oikawa may or may not have stared for a moment. He didn’t even register himself saying “no” to the question. 

Iwaizumi paused in shaking the water droplets out of his hair to look at Oikawa confused. “Why not?”

“Why not what?” Oikawa asked absently. 

Iwaizumi scoffed, “You didn’t hear a thing I asked, did you?”

“No, not at all,” he confirmed. 

Iwaizumi chuckled lightly, walking over to Oikawa to flick his forehead. “I asked if you could toss me some clothes.”

Oikawa pouted and covered his forehead. “Pick some out yourself, I’m not getting up.” 

Continuing to chuckle, Iwaizumi pulled himself out a few of Oikawa’s clothes. “Do I at least smell a bit better now?”

Oikawa nodded. “It helped. The soap smell is mostly covering the ash smell.” 

Iwaizumi pressed a kiss to Oikawa’s forehead, before pulling on the pants. He wasn’t too sure if he wanted to throw on the shirt just yet, especially if he ended up napping like he usually did when he was in Oikawa’s dorm.

“Will you look over this paper for me? It’s for the class that we share,” Oikawa requested, holding out his laptop to Iwaizumi. 

That pretty much solidified that he wouldn’t be napping so he pulled the shirt on and sat down on Oikawa’s bed next to him, taking the laptop. “Don’t really think you’re going to need me to check over it, but sure.”

“A second opinion is always good. Do you want me to look at yours?” he offered with a tilt of his head. 

“I might if I had it here.” 

“You can email it to me whenever you go home then. Have you finished it yet? Tetsu-chan is planning on doing it tonight since it’s due tomorrow.” 

Iwaizumi had luckily managed to do most of it even while working through his investigation, not that it really mattered whether or not he passed the class. “Most of it. Just need to finish it off.”

“Better than what he’s doing, I guess,” Oikawa said before pulling out one of his notebooks to look over while Iwaizumi read his paper. 

As Iwaizumi read through the paper, it didn’t come as any surprise to him how well-written it was. Oikawa was too smart for someone with his dumb personality. “It’s good. I barely changed anything.”

Oikawa flashed a bright smile at him and took the computer back, eyes scanning it for the changes. “Thanks, Iwa-chan. So, you don’t think I need to redo it one more time?” he asked uncertainly. 

Iwaizumi blinked at him, “How many times did you redo it?”

“Six and a half,” Oikawa decided after a moment of deliberation. 

Iwaizumi could only sigh, “You’re ridiculous. It’s fine, you don’t need to redo it.”

Oikawa didn’t look convinced, but shut the computer anyway, reopening his notebook. “I can’t wait for midterms to be over. Just one test tomorrow, and turning in that paper, and I’ll finally be free.” 

“You say that like you’re actually gonna rest after them.”

“I intend to come back to my room and sleep for a day,” Oikawa boasted. 

Iwaizumi smiled, almost proud that Oikawa was actually planning on sleeping, and pressed a kiss to Oikawa’s temple, “Good.”

Oikawa beamed at him. “You should get some rest too. You’ve been spending a lot of your time taking care of me. You can nap while I study.” 

“It doesn’t tire me out, so it’s fine. Besides you need someone to take care of you.”

“I’m an adult, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa reminded him. 

“Still need to be taken care of.” Iwaizumi was pretty sure that without someone always there to make sure Oikawa took care of himself, Oikawa would end up a sleep-deprived, overworked mess.

Oikawa pouted at him. “So mean, Iwa-chan.” 

Iwaizumi pushed Oikawa’s face away from him. “I’m saying I’ll keep being here to take care of you, stupid.”

Oikawa’s eyes widened marginally before a genuine smile spread across his face and he found himself hugging Iwaizumi. 

Iwaizumi couldn't really say it surprised him all that much, but Oikawa's smile along with his arms wrapped around him still made his chest swell with warmth. He placed a hand over Oikawa’s hair, running his fingers through it. “You're not hurting your knee like this, are you?”

“Only a little, but pretty much everything does that, so it's not a big deal,” Oikawa answered, tightening his grip on Iwaizumi. 

“You're hopeless,” Iwaizumi sighed, his words lacking bite, as he wrapped his other arm around Oikawa's waist to pull him closer.

“Maybe, but you know you like me anyway,” Oikawa replied confidently.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi agreed. “For some reason, I do.”

Oikawa smiled again and cuddled up to Iwaizumi. He supposed a brief nap wouldn't hurt since he only had one more test. 

“If we’re napping, I'm taking this shirt off. I put it on ‘cause I thought we wouldn’t be.” Sleeping in a shirt always felt ridiculously stuffy, and sleeping with Oikawa usually made it even more unbearably hot.

Oikawa let out a small whine at the thought of moving, but he supposed he needed to take off his glasses as well. He sighed, but moved and placed his glasses on his nightstand.

Iwaizumi took the opportunity to strip off his shirt, tossing it onto the floor.

Oikawa pouted at Iwaizumi’s chest for a moment before taking off his own shirt as well to go to sleep. 

Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa back into his arms, shifting to lie down. “Why’re you pouting?”

“I'm not,” Oikawa denied, curling up under his blanket.

“You are.” It wasn’t like Oikawa was going to great lengths to hide that he was, either—there was really no point in denying it. 

“You look really good, and I can't do anything about it because of my knee. Even laying here hurts, and you're just taking off your shirt.” 

Iwaizumi almost thought that it was equally unfair for him. It wasn’t like he was the only one shirtless. Even so, he wasn’t going to do anything while Oikawa was injured. “Yeah, I’m not going to let you do anything with your knee like that either.”

“I know,” he mumbled, resting his head on Iwaizumi’s chest to go to sleep.

Iwaizumi ran his fingers through Oikawa’s hair, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as he started to drift off. Oikawa leaned into the touch and soon enough he fell asleep, too.    
The next day, on his way back to his dorm, ready to sleep for the next twenty-four hours, Oikawa felt something strike his knee from behind, and a hand covered his mouth before he could cry out from the sudden sharp pain. Then something else hit him and things started to go dark.


	5. Chapter 5

Iwaizumi had been on his way back to his apartment when he got about five messages from Kuroo all at once, followed by a phone call before he could even read the texts. “What’s so urgent?” he asked as he answered his phone.

_ “It’s you, right? The cop? You’re the only person who came here recently that knows Tooru, so it’s gotta be you they’re aiming this thing at.” _ Kuroo’s voice came out a bit shaky with panic.

Iwaizumi’s eyes widened. How in the hell did Kuroo find out? More importantly, “What the hell are you talking about? Who are they?”

_ “I don’t know! Whoever you’re here for if you’re the cop, but there’s a note on Tooru’s bed, and I haven’t seen Tooru since class, he’s not answering his phone. It says it’s for the nark that’s been hanging around Tooru, and that they want drugs in exchange for getting him back. Something about how it should be easier for a cop to get hold of stuff. There’s an address, but it  _ is _ you, right? You’re the one this is aimed at? Because I don’t know who else it could be for, and I don’t know how to get them anything to get them to let go of Tooru.” _

“Kuroo, calm down.” Despite his words, he felt panic crawl its way up his chest and felt just about ready to punch the closest thing to him. He should’ve been more discreet—he hadn’t properly thought things through and as a result, he’d put Oikawa in danger. “Send me the address. I’ll take care of it and find Oikawa.”

_ “I did. In the text messages.” _

“I’ll get him back,” Iwaizumi repeated reassuringly.

_ “Right. Okay. I should hang up. Let you get to that. Just… keep me posted? If you can, I mean. Don’t let it get in the way of getting him, but…” _

“I’ll tell you as much as I can.” Iwaizumi briskly hung up after giving Kuroo another reassurance and immediately called for backup. He’d need help for this if he wanted to bring Oikawa back uninjured and safe.

* * *

Oikawa came to in what looked like a warehouse, tied to a chair, with his knee in so much pain that it made his stomach churn. “Terushima?” he mumbled when his eyes focused in on the person he recognized, standing around with a few that he didn’t.  

“Heya, Oikawa. Sorry about your knee, but I kinda needed to borrow you for a bit.” Terushima smiled at him as if they were just casually hanging out.

“For  _ what?  _ Where are we?” Oikawa tested the ropes. They seemed loose enough that he could probably get free of them with a little bit of work.

Terushima waved him off. “Oh, I just needed to get your nark of a friend here. Sorry dude, but you’re pretty much collateral damage.”

Oikawa’s eyebrows drew together. “Nark of a… What? I don’t even know any cops. I’ve got an uncle in America who’s a cop, but that’s as close as it gets.”

Terushima’s oddly happy smile didn’t falter, as if it was a permanent feature on his face. “I don’t think it’s worth lying about anymore. I already left a note on your desk. He should be here soon.” Terushima let out a humourless laugh, only a small glint of anger in his eyes, “He actually thought I was dumb enough to fall for a lie as obvious as him being a past addict.”

Oikawa tried to think through everyone he knew, but it was hard to focus when his knee was killing him, and he was still trying to put together the situation. He felt like the answer was staring him right in the face, and that just made things even worse. “Tetsu-chan’s the only one with a key to my dorm. Why would you put a ransom note there? I’ve known him since high school. He’s not a cop.”

“Really? He’s with you so much I woulda thought you’d given him a key or something. Oh well.” Terushima shrugged. “Kuroo’s probably gonna tell him anyway.”

“I don’t… Okay.” His brain was starting to feel fuzzy, and he was getting a headache trying to figure it out. Hopefully whatever was happening would be over soon and he could go back to his dorm and tell Iwa-chan and Kuroo all about it after he got a higher dose of pain medication.

“Just sit tigh—” Terushima was effectively cut off by multiple policemen storming the warehouse, all armed. “Looks like your goddamned boyfriend nark is here.”

Oikawa quickly started to work on the ropes as the policemen stormed in, cuffing Terushima and his buddies, but Oikawa froze as he noticed one in particular, not even noticing the rope falling to the floor. “Iwa-chan?” he said weakly when Iwaizumi was just close enough to hear him. For just a moment his emotions flashed across his face, clear for anyone to see. Shock, confusion, hurt, betrayal. And then a mask slammed firmly into place, blocking all of that from view as the ropes slipped off of his wrist and onto the floor.

Iwaizumi rushed straight to Oikawa the moment he saw him, worry still etched over his face. “Tooru! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

Oikawa plastered on a smile that was both polite and distant. “They went for my knee as a weak spot, so I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you guys for a little bit of help out of here, but other than that they didn’t do anything to me.”

Iwaizumi knew the smile on Oikawa’s face was fake, he’d grown too used to his real smile, so now it was easy to pick out a fake one. But for the moment, he really couldn’t bring himself to question it. Oikawa was safe. He was relatively unharmed and was  _ safe _ . Iwaizumi threw his arms around Oikawa and pulled him tightly against him, despite the fact that Oikawa went rigid under the touch. “I’m sorry, Tooru.”

“Don’t be. I get it. Nothing personal, right? I was convenient to befriend since I know a lot of people. It’s fine.” The cheerfulness in his voice was so clearly forced he almost wanted to wince at it himself. “Good luck with your next case, Iwa-chan. Is there someone I should be giving a statement to?”

His brows furrowed and he pushed Oikawa out to arm's length. “Tooru, what the hell are—”

“Please don’t,” Oikawa pleaded. “I just—can I go home? Do I need to give a statement first? What am I supposed to be doing right now?”

Oikawa’s desperate voice stung Iwaizumi. It pained him to hear Oikawa so hurt. While Iwaizumi wanted to stay by Oikawa’s side and ensure that he was alright, he had a feeling that Oikawa didn’t really want him around at the moment. He reluctantly let go of Oikawa and took a step back. “Yeah. The officer over there is taking statements.” Iwaizumi pointed to one of his colleagues behind Oikawa, “He’ll get to you in a few minutes.”

Oikawa nodded. “Okay,” he said quietly, settling back in his chair to wait for the officer.

“I’ll be back to help you back to campus after that... unless you want someone else to help you.”

The polite smile was back. “You’re the only one that knows where my dorm room is,” he reminded Iwaizumi.

Oikawa’s fake smile left a bad taste in Iwaizumi’s mouth. He wanted to flick his forehead like he always did but faltered; it wasn’t something Oikawa needed at the moment. He settled on giving Oikawa a light pat on the shoulder with a promise that he’d be back soon before walking away.

Oikawa was thankfully given an ice pack at some point, an emt came over to take a look at his leg, and he was able to fill out his statement rather quickly since he hadn’t been conscious for most of what happened. “Alright, you’re free to go home, kid,” the officer told him, taking the clipboard that he’d been using to write his statement. “I’ll have Officer Iwaizumi drive you back.” He walked away from Oikawa, motioning for Iwaizumi to deal with him.

The drive back was almost completely silent, neither of them wanting to speak up first until Iwaizumi finally couldn’t take the atmosphere anymore. “I never wanted to get you involved,” he sighed.

“I told you. It’s fine. I get it,” Oikawa said, continuing to stare out the window instead of looking at Iwaizumi.

“It’s not fine! You could’ve gotten seriously injured and they probably made your knee worse.” Iwaizumi’s grip on his steering wheel tightened. The guilt was eating him alive, and Oikawa brushing it off did nothing to help.

“Probably,” Oikawa agreed. “Collateral damage to your case, I suppose.”

Iwaizumi almost slammed on the brakes. “Who the hell said that? You are  _ not  _ collateral damage.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. No one on your force told me that.” Oikawa waved off the concern. “That’s what Terushima called it, and I think it fits this situation too. Collateral damage for his drug deal, and collateral damage for your case. Either way, it’s damaged and it’s collateral. The medic on site said that it might be permanent, but that surgery might fix it too, so maybe not.”

Iwaizumi’s eyes softened and he placed a hand on Oikawa’s thigh. “You’re not collateral.” He didn’t think there was really anything he could say about the surgery but regardless of what Oikawa said or thought, Iwaizumi was definitely going to at least be there for it.

Oikawa looked a little lost as he stared down at Iwaizumi’s hand on his thigh, like he couldn’t figure out if he wanted to push it away from him or leave it there or even why it was there in the first place. The case was over. Why was Iwaizumi still acting like this? He ended up gently nudging Iwaizumi’s hand off of him, linking his own hands together in his lap to keep them from shaking.

Iwaizumi’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t comment on it. If Oikawa wanted his space then he would give it to him.

They reached the dorm, and as soon as they opened the door Kuroo was taking Oikawa into his arms, and giving him a bone crushing hug. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again. I thought you were going to die! Are you okay?” Kuroo looked over to Iwaizumi. “Is he okay?” he asked before Oikawa could answer the question.

Iwaizumi looked to ground in guilt. “His knee’s worse.”

“How bad?” Kuroo asked as he made Oikawa lie down, elevating his leg and grabbing his pain medication for him.

“He said he’ll need surgery.”

Kuroo dropped the pill bottle and had to scramble to pick it back up. “He—you—Tooru…”

“It’s fine. Really,” Oikawa tried to insist after a glance at Iwaizumi.

Something shifted in Kuroo’s expression after that glance. “You should probably get back to the police station, right?” he asked Iwaizumi. “I’m sure you’ve got a lot of reports to fill out about your time here.”

“I—um…” Iwaizumi didn't really want to leave. He wanted to stay and make sure Oikawa was actually fine, but there was a pained look in Oikawa's eyes and something between a pleading and demanding look in Kuroo’s. With a soft sigh, he pushed down his urge to stay with Oikawa and simply nodded. “Yeah, I guess I should head back.” Sparing Oikawa one last glance, Iwaizumi turned back out the door.

* * *

A few days later, Kuroo answered a knock on their door and quickly slipped out into the hallway before Oikawa could see who it was, closing the door behind him. “I don't think you should be here.” He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I just wanna see how he's doing.” Iwaizumi hadn't really been able to sleep well ever since capturing Terushima and he had a feeling Oikawa was in a similar position.

Kuroo frowned, but decided to answer. “Not good. He hasn't gone to class, he's barely touched the homework people keep bringing him, and he had to get his pain medication doubled. He's got an appointment at the hospital in a few days to see if his knee really will need surgery.”

Iwaizumi rubbed his face, stress completely visible over it, “You’re not gonna let me see him, are you?” And Iwaizumi supposed that was fair. Kuroo was just looking out for his friend after all. It didn’t really make him feel any better knowing that though.

“I wasn't planning on it, no.” Kuroo agreed. “I think that would just make him feel worse. You get that, don't you? Most of the people he’s close with he's known since high school, and then you come along and he really liked you, and he finds out you've been lying to him. And I get that you had to make friends with people to do your job, but did you really have to let it go that far with him?”

Iwaizumi’s eyebrows drew together in both annoyance and insult, “I’m not so cruel that I’d get that close to him just for a job.”

“He doesn't seem sure about that.” Kuroo said flatly. “The problem with lying to people is that it's a lot harder to believe what they say afterwards. As far as he can figure, you lied about a bunch of other stuff, so why not? He makes sense as a target for learning about other people, and you  _ did  _ learn about Terushima dealing through us.  _ I  _ think you genuinely like him, but I also think you lied to him, and that he's a lot more broken up about that than the stress of being kidnapped, which is what all of his teachers think is the reason he’s missing class.”

Sighing, Iwaizumi ran a hand through his hair before simply letting it flop to his side. He knew Kuroo had a point, but Iwaizumi had also had a job, a job that he couldn’t tell Oikawa about even if he’d wanted to. “So you’re just gonna bar me from ever seeing him again or something?”

“No. He's an adult. If he gets out of this slump or whatever you want to call it and decides that he wants to see you, well I won't encourage him to do it but I won't stop him either.”

Iwaizumi was absolutely sure that wasn’t going to happen, not with the misunderstandings Oikawa had. He was actually pretty sure it wouldn’t happen even if he managed to explain himself to Oikawa, but he still wanted to at least set things right before Oikawa completely wrote him off. “Alright. Fair enough.” Iwaizumi could relent for now. With a brief nod as an awkward goodbye, Iwaizumi turned to leave, staring straight ahead as he mumbled his last parting words, “You’re a good friend, Kuroo.”

“Thanks.” Kuroo nodded back, even though Iwaizumi wouldn't be able to see it. 


	6. Chapter 6

The next time Iwaizumi came, he’d made sure it was during a time Kuroo would have class. It wasn’t really that he had anything against Kuroo, he just  _ really _ wanted to talk to Oikawa. He braced himself as he gave the door two quick knocks.

Oikawa considered not getting it. Just the idea of getting up made his knee hurt, but it could be Kuroo’s mystery visitor from the other night, and he was vaguely curious about that. So, with a sigh he dragged himself to his feet, using his new crutches to get across the room and open the door. “Iwa-chan … Or um, officer Iwaizumi? I'm -I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to call you.” He was suddenly very aware of his own state of appearance though. He had circles under his eyes that even his glasses wouldn't completely hide, his hair was probably a bit of a mess, he was in a shirt littered with holes and some vollyball shorts, and he was on crutches. It wasn't exactly the “I'm fine despite what happened look” he would have wanted to be wearing if he saw Iwaizumi again.

Despite his attempts to brace himself to see Oikawa again, the minute Iwaizumi laid his eyes on him, he felt his chest twist painfully and a lump lodge itself into his throat. It hurt to see Oikawa so… disheveled, so untaken care of, and it hurt so much more remembering that it was his fault. He forced his voice past the ball that tried to block it, which was probably why his voice came out so weak, “Just… call me what you always do.”

Oikawa nodded, but didn't end up saying anything, watching Iwaizumi cautiously to try and figure out what he was standing there for instead of speaking.

After a minute of awkward silence from the both of them, Iwaizumi finally spoke up. “Can we talk?”

Oikawa wanted to say no. He planned on it, actually. Instead he found himself putting up his best polite smile and stepping aside to let Iwaizumi in. “Sure.”

Iwaizumi felt a small tinge of irritation bubble in his stomach before quickly pushing it down as he walked past Oikawa into his room. “You don’t have to make that face, you know.”

“I don't know, because I don't know what face you're talking about.” Oikawa closed the door behind Iwaizumi and moved to sit down on his bed, giving his knee a rest.

“I’m talking about that fake smile you always try to give me.” Iwaizumi opted to just stand a few steps away from the door rather than sit.

Oikawa let the smile drop. He didn't have the energy for it anyway. “Not  _ always _ . You made me smile a lot before.” He told Iwaizumi quietly, looking down at his hands in his lap. He tried to clear his eyes of any of his feelings before looking up again. “What are you doing here?”

The sharp pain he felt at Oikawa’s use of past tense almost made him forget the whole reason he’d come in the first place. Almost. “To talk,” he answered lamely.

“I don't think there's much to say.” Oikawa replied.

Iwaizumi wasn’t sure where to start, and he was starting to really regret not practicing what he was going to say in front of a mirror beforehand like he’d thought about doing. “I really like you,” Iwaizumi ended up blurting out.

Oikawa’s eyes widened for a moment before he tried to put on a neutral expression. It didn't work as well as he wanted since he could feel moisture gathering in his eyes. “I- no. No, you don't get to just  _ say  _ things like that after spending this whole time lying to me! I thought I’d figured out your tell for lying, but you've been doing it from the start, and it's not fair because I've liked you from the start, but I don't know how much of you is real.” His mask was breaking down more and more as he spoke until he was furiously wiping away tears trying to fall.

It took effort to not draw Oikawa into his arms to hug him as tightly as possible, but that would probably make things worse. “Yeah, I lied about being a student here and I didn’t tell you I was an undercover cop. That’s it.”

“Those are big lies, Iwaizumi. You also told me you were smoking because you were stressed, but it was just to get to him. I was worried about you, you know. You asked me about drugs around school and about Terushima’s dealing under the pretense of casual conversation. I trusted you, and nothing was real.” He gave up on trying to wipe away the tears, moving to lay face down on his bed so that Iwaizumi couldn't see them, involuntarily letting out a small pained sound when the shift in position moved his leg.

Oikawa’s pained whine was what finally got Iwaizumi to give in to his need to be close to him and make sure he was okay. Iwaizumi closed the small distance between them and sat down on the edge of the bed to examine his knee. “You need to stop being so reckless,” Iwaizumi’s voice was barely audible as his fingers ghosted over Oikawa’s thigh and calf, not wanting to actually touch and put pressure on his knee.

Oikawa tensed under the touch, but didn't move away for fear of hurting his knee again. He'd had his appointment at the hospital the day before, and he'd been told he would need the surgery if he wanted his leg to function properly again. He was going to have to arrange a time for that soon, but until then he was supposed to keep from injuring it further as much as possible.

Iwaizumi let his hands drop once he was sure Oikawa was fine, but continued to stare at Oikawa’s leg. “You’re right. I told some pretty huge lies, but we were friends… well, we were something, weren’t we? I wouldn’t have done any of that stuff if I didn’t at least want it to be real, and I told you I would take care of you, didn’t I? That was real.”

Oikawa sniffled and wiped at his eyes again before turning his head to look at Iwaizumi. “And how am I supposed to know that?”

Iwaizumi paused to think about that. “Because I’m here with no mission and no orders. I’m just here because I wanted to see your dumb face and make sure you didn’t hurt yourself more. But if you don’t believe me then… I don’t know.” He wished he had a definite answer, something that could actually answer Oikawa’s question, but at the moment, that was all he had.

There was a long pause as Oikawa tried to think through that. “You're the person Tetsu-chan wouldn't tell me about, right? The one who came over a few days ago but didn't come inside?” He said instead of replying to what Iwaizumi said.

Iwaizumi finally looked away from Oikawa’s leg to meet his eyes with a quizzical look. “I did come over a few days ago and Kuroo didn’t let me in, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Sounds like him. He wouldn't tell me anything about who it was or why he went outside to talk to them. So, what did he tell you?”

“That seeing me would just make you feel worse, and he berated me for lying.” Iwaizumi couldn’t exactly say Kuroko was wrong either.

“If you thought it would make things worse, like Kuroo said, why'd you come back? You must have believed him at least a little to have not come bursting in, despite him not letting you.”

“Because I’m being selfish, and I wanted to see you.” He shifted slightly to fully face Oikawa, “You can hit me for it if you want.”

Oikawa blinked a few times, clearly startled by the last part. “I think that falls under assaulting a police officer.”

Iwaizumi smiled softly, “Not if the police officer is letting you do it.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes. “I don't want to hit you.” He said firmly.

“Then what do you want? Do you want me to leave?”

Oikawa looked a bit lost. “I-I don't know.” He said quietly to answer both questions, biting his lower lip as he tried to get his mind to come up with a better answer.

“Then maybe it’s better if I leave.”

Probably. That would make sense. That would leave Oikawa time to figure out his feelings. But instead he reached out and grabbed Iwaizumi’s sleeve to keep him from walking away.

Iwaizumi had completely expected Oikawa to just let him go, but he wasn’t at all opposed to staying. He took the hand holding the sleeve into his and laced their fingers together. 

“Tell me about yourself. I want to know about officer Iwa-chan.” Oikawa decided.

Iwaizumi smiled, “What do you want to know?” Oikawa asked him one question after another, and he answered them as best he could and he may or may not have skimmed over or completely skipped the more embarrassing aspects of his life, but he didn’t think Oikawa needed to know them  _ yet _ . At some point during the telling of his bad habits, he’d ended up laying down next to Oikawa with an arm slung over his waist.

Oikawa hesitated before asking his next question. “I'm going to have surgery soon. You’d have to make nice with Tetsu-chan again, since he's coming too, but would you come to the hospital with me for it?”

His reply was almost immediate, “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Oikawa offered a tiny smile, the first real one since he'd found out about Iwaizumi. “Thank you.”

Iwaizumi stroked Oikawa’s cheek with  his thumb. Oikawa’s real smile was beautiful and he was glad to see it again.

It was then that Kuroo decided to walk in. “Tooru, I don't feel like buying take out and you know I can't cook for shit, so how do you feel about pancakes for di-” he cut himself off as he noticed Iwaizumi, arching his eyebrows.

Iwaizumi tensed. He didn't need to turn around to see, he could just  _ feel _ the scrutiny coming from Kuroo. He slowly detached himself from Oikawa to sit on the edge of his bed, nervously rubbing his neck. “Um, I know how to cook…”

“Yeah, good luck using the dorm kitchen without someone ‘accidentally’ throwing something at you. Most college students don't like narks, you know.” Kuroo replied.

Iwaizumi almost winced at Kuroo’s harshness. “Or I can leave. I just wanted to talk to him and I did.”

Kuroo ignored him, looking at Oikawa instead. “Alright. He talked to you. You look like you've been crying again. Thoughts on that?”

“I think things will be okay.”

“Okay then. Pancakes for three. And while we eat he can convince  _ me  _ that everything is okay.” The grin Kuroo directed at Iwaizumi had a very clear edge to it before he turned to go to the dorm kitchens.

“I think he's gonna be harder than you to convince,” Iwaizumi sighed.

“He didn't kick you out or punch you. I'd say that's progress. You should have seen then black eye on the guy that cheated on me a year ago. And that was just from Tetsu-chan.”

“If the guy cheated on you then whatever Kuroo did, the guy deserved it.” Iwaizumi supposed not being kicked out was a win in some way, he'd just have to work out what he'd say to Kuroo.

“Oh absolutely, but I'm just saying he can't be that mad at you if you're still here unharmed.”

“Alright. But if I start off with blurting to him that I really like him then stop me.” He didn't think he wanted to go through that embarrassment twice in one day.

Oikawa’s eyebrows drew together. “Why would you say that to Tetsu-chan?”

“It was the first thing out of my mouth when I was nervous earlier with you. It could happen again,” Iwaizumi shrugged.

“I don't think it would go over the same way with him.”

“Yeah, I don't think so either, which is why I asked you to stop me if I did.”

“I can't stop you after you've already done it. Besides, I wanna see what would happen.”

“Yeah, you would,” Iwaizumi sighed and fell back, using Oikawa's stomach as a pillow.

“Of course.” Oikawa absently started running his fingers through Iwaizumi’s hair.

“Tooru, I found two two owls on my way to the kitchen.” Kuroo announced, dragging Bokuto and Akaashi in with him.

“I'm still confused since I don't go here. Why are we mad at him? He and Oikawa-san look fine to me.” Akaashi said as he looked between Iwaizumi and Oikawa, ignoring the fact that Bokuto was practically hanging off of him, despite Akaashi being the smallest person in the room.

“Because I hurt him,” Iwaizumi answered for them, slowly sitting up. He was still pretty mad at himself for hurting Oikawa so he couldn't exactly say Kuroo and Bokuto were over reacting.

Akaashi turned his full attention to Iwaizumi. His expression didn't change, but his eyes seemed to go a little colder. “I see. That makes more sense than Kuroo-san’s explanation of why I was supposed to be eating with someone he was angry with. Iwaizumi-san, I presume. Well, it's all fine and good that you and Oikawa-san made up, I'll try not to begrudge you too much for the emotional stress you've caused him, since I assume you will be making up for that.” His tone held a warning in it that clearly said Iwaizumi had better plan on making it up to Oikawa. “However, with that out of the way, my issue lies more in the fact that I hold you responsible for him needing surgery.”

“Akaashi, that's not fair. He's not the one who-”

Akaashi continued as if Oikawa hadn't interrupted him, not taking his eyes off of Iwaizumi. “If you hadn't gotten so involved with Oikawa-san while on your job he wouldn't have been targeted, and I think it was very unprofessional of you to let that happen.”

Iwaizumi couldn't decide who scared him more at the moment, Kuroo who could potentially kill him if he said the wrong thing, or Akaashi who probably  _ would  _ kill him if he said the wrong thing, and would probably do it with the same cold gaze he was giving him now. Akaashi wasn't wrong though. Iwaizumi met Akaashi’s gaze with a look of surrender, “You're right. It  _ was  _ unprofessional of me and I  _ am  _ responsible for Oikawa needing surgery,” Iwaizumi would never deny either of those two facts.

“No. No, the only one who is responsible for that is me. If I hadn’t hurt my knee in the first place that wouldn’t have been a target.” Oikawa insisted, wincing as he sat up.

“And I believe I already lectured you about that.” Akaashi said, not even looking at Oikawa as he kept his eyes trained on Iwaizumi.

“Everyone did. Even Ushiwaka lectured him.” Bokuto pointed out, resting his chin on top of Akaashi’s head.

“No. Ushiwaka _ tried _ to lecture him about it, and Tooru fell over when he threw one of his crutches at him.” Kuroo corrected as he passed out plates of pancakes.

Akaashi took his eyes off of Iwaizumi just long enough to roll them.

Iwazumi sharply turned to Oikawa to knock him over the head. “Why the hell would you do that!? Think more about your well being!”

Akaashi’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Iwaizumi hit Oikawa. He didn’t say anything, but if one looked close enough they could almost see him filing that away as another reason to not like him.

Oikawa let out a yelp and covered his head. “I didn’t have anything else to throw at him.” He eyed Iwaizumi suspiciously before moving his hands to take his plate. “The look on his face was worth it.”

Iwaizumi ignored the chill shooting up his spine that came with the feel of Akaashi glaring at the back of his head. “Did you make your knee worse from it?”

“No. Tetsu-chan caught me before I could actually hit the ground.” Oikawa assured.

Iwaizumi’s eyes softened, “Then I guess that’s fine.” He smoothed his hand over Oikawa’s head where he hit him, “You need to be less reckless.”

“I don’t regret that for a second.”

“So . . . were we not actually friends?” Bokuto asked Iwaizumi sadly after a moment of silence.  Akaashi managed to look more pissed off at the idea of Iwaizumi making his boyfriend upset as well.

“Wait, what?” Iwaizumi didn’t think he could be more appalled, “I wouldn’t have stuck with you guys if I didn’t actually like you, job or not.”

For the first time something almost like approval showed on Akaashi’s face. He was still clearly not happy with Iwaizumi, but he seemed to have at least said the right thing to that.

“If we’re still friends and Oikawa is fine with you, I’m not mad.” Bokuto decided, starting to eat his food.

“I-um-thank you...” Iwaizumi had expected to need to try harder to convince them, well he technically still needed to get through to Kuroo and Akaashi, but one out of three wasn’t bad so far.

“Bo, you don’t know how to stay mad at someone.” Kuroo told him.

Bokuto shrugged. “I don’t like staying mad at people. If they feel bad and are trying to make it better that’s good enough for me.”

“You two should take a page from Bokuto’s book.” Oikawa commented.

“I’ll forgive him when Oikawa-san has caught up in his classes again and after I hear that the surgery has gone well. I don’t particularly like staying angry either, but I also don’t like to drop things before something is fixed.” Akaashi told Bokuto.

“That’s fair. I didn’t think I’d earn forgiveness in one day, so I understand.”

“I like that plan, can I do that too or are you gonna get mad at me for not liking him since I live with you?” Kuroo asked Oikawa.

“I want him to come to the surgery, so I want you guys to get along, but I’m not going to force you to forgive someone.” Oikawa replied.

“Well I'm going to be at your surgery whether Kuroo forgives me by then or not.”

“I know. It'd just be nice if you guys got along by then.” Oikawa mumbled. Kuroo’s expression softened a bit at that.

“I can already feel Kuroo-san’s resolve crumbling.” Akaashi intoned

“We aren't all made of ice.” Bokuto teased.

“Ice breaks.” Akaashi retorted. He decided that the pancakes were too sweet for him and passed his mostly untouched plate to Bokuto. “Kuroo-san is made of ice.”

“No way. I don't do cold.” Kuroo shook his head.

“He really doesn't. Don't ever share a bed with Kuroo; he will take all of the blankets, no matter how many you have, and then kick you off the bed.” Bokuto agreed.

“I should be worried, right? That's the normal reaction to that kind of statement. I should actually wonder why my boyfriend is sharing beds with his attractive friend.” Akaashi looked over to Oikawa to express his exasperation.

Oikawa shrugged, happily jumping on a change of subject from how pissed everyone was at Iwaizumi. Which, he understood. He wasn't completely over it either, but he liked Iwaizumi enough to try to work past it. “I don't know. I've fallen asleep with Tetsu-chan too. He's the worst to sleep with. Even if you end up under him he still somehow isn't sharing the blankets, and instead of getting body heat from him it's like he's just stealing body heat from you.”

Iwaizumi, while thankful that the subject of conversation had shifted from him, felt a little awkward. He couldn’t exactly contribute to the conversation, he hadn’t known them as long, and even if he could, he wasn’t sure if he’d want to, it felt like he’d be intruding if he did. He settled to just listen and eat his pancakes instead.

“Okay, this is slander. Kenma has never once complained about sleeping with me.”

“No, he just has circles under his eyes because he didn’t sleep. If you’re kicking one of us off the bed, you’re probably practically throwing him.” Bokuto said. Akaashi winced in sympathy for the other setter.

“I would  _ never.”  _ Kuroo said, holding a hand over his heart.

“Kenma is his childhood friend.” Oikawa whispered to Iwaizumi, to fill him in on who they were talking about.

Iwaizumi nodded, still half listening to the conversation. “Is Kuroo really that bad?” he whispered to Oikawa.

“Yes.” Oikawa said firmly. “We’re now looking into getting an actual television for the room since I won’t be able to fall asleep watching something on a laptop with him until my knee is back to normal.” He pointed at the space they had made for the future television. They'd even taped a picture of a TV to the wall behind the space. “But Bokuto talks in his sleep.” He added.

“I do not!” Bokuto almost shouted. He looked to Akaashi for support.

“You do.” Akaashi said.

“You were supposed to back me up!”

“On something they already know about?” Akaashi’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“It’s almost grossly romantic because he’s almost always talking about Akaashi.” Oikawa added to Iwaizumi.

It may have been a trick of the light, but Akaashi’s face seemed to take on a slightly pink tint.

“I think it’s kinda cute how grossly in love he is.” Iwaizumi wisely chose to not comment on Akaashi’s barely noticeable blush, even if he found it mildly amusing to see Akaashi finally express an emotion other than eerily calm anger.

“Alright, but Tooru’s not getting out of this without embarrassment.” Kuroo decided.

“I sleep like an angel, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Oikawa said primly.

“Yeah, I’ll give you that. When you actually sleep, other than being the lightest sleeper I’ve ever met, you’re pretty decent. However, let’s talk about your cooking skills.”

“Let’s not.” Oikawa countered while Bokuto started laughing and Akaashi looked at him with mild curiosity.

“I didn’t know you could cook, Oikawa-san.”

“He cannot. Neither can I, but at least I wasn’t banned from the dorm kitchens for starting not one, not even two, but  _ three  _ fires. I think one of those times he was trying to make cereal.”

“What?! I don't remember this!” Bokuto looked between them with wide eyes.

“You went home our first winter break, but Tetsu-chan and I decided to stick around. And I'm going to kill him when my leg heals, because we vowed never to speak of it.”

“And I didn't. For a few  _ years _ , Tooru.”

“We said never, not in a few years we can talk about it!”

Iwaizumi turned to Oikawa with a look of disbelief, “How do you set fire to cereal? You eat cereal cold.”

“Haven't you ever heard of hot cereal?” Oikawa whined.

“Don't lie to them like that. It was just normal cereal.” Kuroo crossed his arms over his chest.

“Okay,  _ listen _ ,” Oikawa said, but didn't follow it up with anything.

“We’re all listening.” Akaashi prompted.

Oikawa’s eyes zeroed in on Akaashi. “Akaashi lit a cake on fire once!” He said, pointing an accusing finger at Akaashi.

Akaashi’s eyebrows rose. “You mean baked Alaska? Are you implying that you lit cereal on fire to copy what I did to a cake that is meant to catch fire?”

“I didn't _ say  _ that.” Oikawa protested weakly. “It was right after finals week and I was nineteen.” He mumbled.

“You know, I think it's fine; you don't have to explain,” at this point Iwaizumi wasn't sure he really wanted to know anymore, “I'll just remember to never let you cook.”

“Kuroo, bro, I can't believe you've been holding out on me like this.” Bokuto placed a hand over his heart.

“Tooru promised death, but I feel I'm at an advantage right now.” Kuroo replied.

“Probably gonna die after you get close enough to him though,” Iwaizumi commented dryly.

“I feel safe enough.”

“Yeah, well, just make sure he's sitting if he throws a crutch at you too.” A quick glance at the clock told Iwaizumi he was probably overstaying his visit. He'd done what he'd come to do and, overall, it went better than he expected, he could leave now without much regret. “I think I'll get going now,” he announced and turned to Oikawa, “Message me when your surgery is?”

Oikawa nodded. “Do you have the same cell phone number?” He figured the other one would have probably been a work phone.

He did, but he didn't particularly like using it off of work. “I'll text you my other one.”

Oikawa nodded again. “Alright. I'll probably be pretty busy with school the next few days, but I'll let you know.”

After quickly ruffling Oikawa's hair, reminding him to at least  _ try  _ and take care of himself, and an awkward goodbye to the rest of the group, Iwaizumi left feeling more or less accomplished.

* * *

The hospital waiting room had a low number of people occupying it on the day of Oikawa’s surgery, one of which was Kuroo, who was pacing up and down the room enough that he would have probably gotten in trouble for it if the nurse hadn’t been too busy making eyes at him to actually tell him to sit down. Oikawa’s eyes followed him as something to keep himself distracted from what had Kuroo pacing in the first place. The upcoming surgery.

“Hey, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa called when he noticed Iwaizumi walk in. Kuroo spared him a nod and then returned to his pacing.  

Iwaizumi gave a small wave, keeping his expression neutral even though he felt stiff as a board.

“Can you both try to relax a little?” Oikawa asked, motioning for Iwaizumi to take one of the chairs next to him, offering up his best smile. “There's nothing to worry about.” Except permanent damage to his knee, potentially losing his volleyball career and sports scholarship. He was trying not to think about any of that.

“I'm relaxed,” Iwaizumi tried, but his words ended up coming out as stressed as he felt, “Besides, aren’t you too relaxed?”

“Probably.” Oikawa agreed.

“He had some kind of break down last night, and now he's so stressed he's almost calm.” Kuroo supplied.

Oikawa shrugged and gave Iwaizumi a sheepish smile.

That only seemed to make Iwaizumi even more worried. He took Oikawa's hand in his once he sat down next to him. Whether it was to keep Oikawa or himself calm, Iwaizumi didn't know.

Oikawa laced their fingers together and let his head fall onto Iwaizumi’s shoulder.

“Do you know how long it'll take?” Iwaizumi asked as calmly as he could manage.

“Few hours? Not entirely sure since I'm going to be drugged into sleeping, and there's not really a set amount of time.”

“And I'm guessing both you and Kuroo didn't sleep.” It was pretty obvious given the circles under Kuroo's eyes, along with Kuroo's hair looking a little flatter than usual. Oikawa, of course, looked unaffected at first glance, but Iwaizumi had grown to be able to see the exhaustion in his eyes.

“We stayed up all night watching Alien movies.” Oikawa confirmed.

“He made me watch the same documentary two times in a row. I still don't remember anything about it.” Kuroo added.

“I'd yell at you, but I didn't really sleep either.” He'd spent a majority of the night tossing and turning in bed until he eventually gave up on sleep altogether and had an extremely early morning.

“We’re all unhealthy together then.” Oikawa declared.

“Exactly what people wanna hear in a hospital, Tooru.” Kuroo said with a roll of his eyes. He made himself sit down on the other side of Oikawa’s chair, tapping his foot to accommodate the nervous energy still flowing steadily through him.

Iwaizumi would have commented on how it wasn't like doctors managed to sleep much either, but was silenced by the doctor walking in.

The doctor gave them a quick run through of what they were going to do, which was really just a summarized version of what they'd already been told during their briefing of the surgery a week ago. Once the doctor finished his run through, he had a nurse direct Iwaizumi and Kuroo to a waiting room where they were left with only their nerves and each other as company.

“You deal with emergency personnel all the time, right? Did he seem to think Tooru would be alright?” Kuroo asked after a few minutes.

“I don’t know,” Iwaizumi sighed. He wished he had a better answer. “It’s usually easier to tell with paramedics. With doctors, they’re so used to it, they're calm in almost any situation.”

“Right. Okay.” He pulled out his phone to try and distract himself with a game or something. It worked for about fifteen minutes and then he was pacing again. “You got any new embarrassing stories about Tooru?” He asked after five minutes.

“None that I can think of; you probably have a few though,” Iwaizumi prompted. Hopefully it distracted the both of them a bit.

“Oh yeah. Let’s see . . . have you seen Tooru drunk yet?”

“No, but now I think I might need to. Share?”

“I’ve seen it four times, which one do you wanna hear about first?”

“The worst one you have.” Iwaizumi didn’t even need to think about it.

“Statute of limitation prevents us from getting in trouble for under age drinking right? I mean, it’s been long enough that we’re both legal now.” Kuroo asked when he remembered he was talking to a cop.

Iwaizumi would have laughed if they had been in any other situation instead of nervously waiting for a surgery to finish. “I’m not gonna arrest you for something you did years ago.”

Kuroo nodded. “Alright, third time then. So usually Tooru only gets tipsy at parties, if he’s not the designated driver of the night, which he quite often is, which is why I haven’t seen him drunk many times. So, it was the first big party after finals two years ago, the party was at Noya’s place and everyone was well on their way to hammered, but Tooru was sure that he’d failed one of his finals, he didn’t of course he got a great score, but since he thought that, he was knocking back shots faster than anyone else. I walked away from him for five minutes to talk to Bo and suddenly Tooru is in nothing but a miniskirt, I’m still not sure where he got it because no one was wearing his pants, and he got up onto a table. Many of us saw more of Tooru than we wanted to because of that. He used an empty beer bottle like a microphone to start singing, and then broke off mid song to start telling us about how the earth is doomed to be taken over by aliens because we are so ill prepared. He got off of the table, shouted that he was coming out as pansexual, kissed some guy we don’t even know, and then stole that guy’s shot and walked off with it, only to be found passed out in a closet, tangled up in one of Noya’s shirts because they are way too small to fit on him,” Kuroo made a gesture for how short Nishinoya was. “and refused to leave the party until we called Kenma, who was sleeping at the time. He wasn’t even hungover the next day and I was pissed.”

Iwaizumi blinked a few times before simply staring at Kuroo, actively forcing himself to not imagine Oikawa in a miniskirt. “Well… that’s one way to come out,” he finally said, “a lot more interesting than how I did, that’s for sure.”

“Oh?” Kuroo raised his eyebrows. “I mean, it’s hard to top Tooru’s coming out, I guess, but was yours interesting?”

“Not really? Unless you consider showing up for a family dinner with a boyfriend interesting.”

“That all depends on how the family dinner went.” Kuroo answered.

“About as well as most would. Most of my family were completely against it. I think my grandma called me God’s newest deserter. My twelve year old cousin asked me how we had sex after the party, as reference for fanfiction she was writing.” Iwaizumi felt regret wash over him all over again as he recounted that day. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, his boyfriend at the time didn’t mind it all that much, and simply laughed at him for about a day.

“But - she was twel- ew. Okay.” Kuroo sat back down in his chair in defeat. “Sorry about your grandma.”

Iwaizumi shrugged, “It kinda sucked because I was pretty close to her, but at least she didn’t stop talking to me. She kinda just… started being awkward towards me while trying to slip me random pages torn out of a bible every time we saw each other.”

“If it makes you feel any better, my grandma gives me _ entire _ bibles, every time I see her, and I didn’t even do anything to provoke it.” Kuroo offered.

“Pretty sure grandmas keep a closet full of them.” Iwaizumi didn’t even know where his grandma got all the bible pages. The only bibles he ever saw her with were fully intact. “You got any fun stories about getting drunk, or anything?”

They ended up trading stories back and forth for the entirety of the three hours the surgery took, which in the end, did make them both less nervous about the operation, at least until the doctor came back out. They both stared at him in anticipation, waiting for him to finish repeating what they already knew and just tell them how it went. Iwaizumi was almost tempted to just yank the doctor by the collar to get him to just tell them already.

“Overall, no complications arose and the operation should be a complete success. He’ll have to stay here for the next two or three days and come back in a few times over the next few weeks to make sure everything is fine, but as long as he takes care of himself, things look good for him. He should be waking up in a few minutes, would you boys like to see him?”

Kuroo jumped to his feet. “Where?” Was all he asked.

The doctor pointed them in the direction of the room Oikawa had been moved to, letting a nurse lead them in case they got lost. They got to the room just a little after Oikawa had woken up.

Oikawa gave the two of them a wide smile. “Hello! I feel very high right now.” He said enthusiastically.

“He’s on some heavy pain medication at the moment, so he’s going to be a little out of it.” The nurse said before exiting the room.

Iwaizumi had meant to let Kuroo greet Oikawa first; he was technically closer to him, but the minute he saw him, his feet seemed to move on their own. He wrapped his arms securely around Oikawa’s shoulders, “How’s your knee?”

Oikawa blinked a few times, looking a bit confused about how he had gotten into Iwaizumi’s arms, but not upset about it by any means. “I don’t know. Sore, but I can’t feel much of anything right now.”

Iwaizumi breathed a sigh of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding and took a step back, letting go of Oikawa to give his hair a ruffle.

Oikawa caught Iwaizumi’s wrist and brought the hand in his hair down to his lips to place a light kiss to it, and then aimed a sunny smile Iwaizumi’s way.

“I was trying to not make it awkward for your best friend.” Not that Iwaizumi wanted Oikawa let go.

“I’ve walked in on him having sex before. This isn’t awkward.” Kuroo dismissed, too relieved that Oikawa seemed to be okay to care about much else.

Oikawa normally would have laughed at something like that, but under medication he went bright red and pulled the thin hospital blanket over his face to hide it. “Tetsu-chaaaaaan.” He whined.

Iwaizumi peeled the blanket away from him, “Don’t hide, we’re here to see you.”

Oikawa tried to tug the blanket back over himself, and pouted at Iwaizumi when he couldn’t move it out of his grip.

No longer caring, since Kuroo didn’t seem to care, Iwaizumi leaned down to place a quick peck on Oikawa’s forehead, “Stop it.”

“No, you stop it.” Oikawa wasn’t sure what he was telling Iwaizumi to stop doing.

Kuroo walked over and put a hand on Oikawa’s shoulder. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“I am glad that you are okay too, Tetsu-chan.” Oikawa answered.

Kuroo rolled his eyes, but there was a fond smile on his face.  

“And you, Iwa-chan.” He added hurriedly, as if worried he'd offended Iwaizumi. “I'm glad you're okay too.”

Iwaizumi could only smile. Oikawa was unexpectedly endearing like this. “The doctor said you’ll be here for the next few days. Try not to give them trouble when neither of us are here.”

“Will you bring me milk bread if I promise to not give them trouble?” Oikawa asked. He tried to give Iwaizumi puppy dog eyes, but ended up giggling after just a few seconds.

Iwaizumi hugged Oikawa to his chest, reminding himself that it was inappropriate to make out with high patients at a hospital. “If the doctors let me.”

“I make no promises then.” Oikawa declared.

“You’d better behave or I’m telling Iwaizumi about the times you got drunk.” Kuroo threatened, nearly giving himself away with laughter.

Oikawa looked at Kuroo over Iwaizumi’s shoulder with wide eyed betrayal. “You wouldn’t!” He gasped.

“He would,” Iwaizumi confirmed. He was definitely still curious about the other stories.

Oikawa struggled out of Iwaizumi’s arms and reached out to grab Kuroo’s face, covering his mouth with one of his hands. “No.”

“Why not? I wouldn’t mind hearing more about your drunk adventures.”

“More?” Oikawa asked, looking between them suspiciously.

“More,” Iwaizumi confirmed, laughing a little.

“Nooooooo.” Oikawa flopped back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over himself again.

Iwaizumi shared an amused look with Kuroo, who finally had his face free of Oikawa’s hand. “I think he’s going to be a handful for the doctors.”

“This is bullying.” Oikawa mumbled from under his blanket.

“Probably.” Kuroo agreed.

“But with care,” Iwaizumi added.

Oikawa just made a whining sound at that.

Iwaizumi and Kuroo both waited a couple minutes to see if Oikawa would come out of the blanket at all, until they realized he had fallen asleep.

“I’m gonna get a snack from the vending machine for when he wakes up.” Kuroo decided.

Iwaizumi nodded, moving the blanket off of Oikawa’s face as a precaution. He was content to wait while watching over Oikawa sleep.

* * *

On the day of Oikawa’s check out, Iwaizumi arrived at the hospital a little earlier than he had promised Oikawa. He greeted the lady at the desk as per usual, but before going up to Oikawa’s room, he asked her for the bill and forms for Oikawa’s discharge.

“I thought Oikawa-san was paying for it.” The receptionist said with a tilt of her head.

“No, I offered to pay for it. He put up a bit of a fight, but agreed eventually.” It was a complete lie, he hadn’t mentioned it to Oikawa in anyway yet. Oikawa wouldn’t be able to do anything after it was paid for though.

“That's really sweet of you.” She told him as she passed over the billing information.

The price was a huge sting to his bank account, but it was worth it. He’d just have to avoid looking at it for a while. After quickly paying it off, he thanked the receptionist and headed up to Oikawa’s room.

“Iwa-chan? You're here early.” Oikawa looked up from his laptop that he'd gotten Kuroo to bring him a few days ago.

“Yeah, you’re getting discharged today. I thought I’d come early to help pack up your few things.” He tossed his backpack to the foot of Oikawa’s bed, “Brought you a change of clothes.”

Oikawa sighed. “You still do have a tell when you lie, so do I get to know why you  _ actually  _ came in early?” He didn't quite make eye contact, the subject of Iwaizumi lying still a sensitive one for him.

Iwaizumi eyed Oikawa’s crutch for a second before deciding it was safer if he moved it out of Oikawa’s reach. Well, it was safer for him. “I paid for your surgery,” he said as nonchalantly as he could.

Oikawa’s eyes snapped over to Iwaizumi’s, blown wide with disbelief. “You- you  _ what?”  _ He stammered. “No. No, Iwa-chan, that's too much! Go get your money back! Oh my god…”

Placing Oikawa’s crutch by the door, he moved to the side of Oikawa’s bed to give him a quick kiss. “Just accept it. I wanted to do it.”

Oikawa shook his head. “No, that's so much money! You didn't have to. My parents sent me money to help out. You really shouldn't be paying for my medical care.”

“Then how about you think of it as a gift from someone with a full time job to their friend in university?” Iwaizumi held back the comment of how the hospital bill should’ve been his responsibility in the first place, since Oikawa’s need for medical care was his fault.

“Friend. That makes this so much better.” Oikawa deadpanned. “No, I’m paying you back. Right now. How do I transfer money into your bank account?” He turned to his computer, pulling up his own account information.

Iwaizumi pushed the laptop closed, “Then take it as a gift from your boyfriend or whatever you want to call me.”

Oikawa narrowed his eyes, giving Iwaizumi an assessing look. “Will it make you feel better? If I don't make you take money from me to pay you back, you’ll stop being so guilt ridden over something that isn't your fault?” He asked, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

“If I say yes will you stop trying to pay me back?” He wasn’t really sure if he felt any less guilt ridden after paying for the bill, and it didn’t really matter to him if he did manage to feel better or not, that wasn’t why he paid for it. He paid for it because it was his responsibility to begin with.

“Only if you mean it. If you don't even feel better afterwards then you're really just wasting your money.” Oikawa told him, lips turning downwards a bit.

“Then yes.” Iwaizumi packed up Oikawa’s laptop, putting it in its bag before Oikawa could decide to open it back up again to try and pay him back. “And it’s not a waste of money,” he clarified.

“It is because I had it covered, and I don't believe your yes.” Oikawa argued. “My leg got hurt because of me. It wouldn't have been a weak point to hit if I hadn't been stupid while practicing. And that's on me. Not you. I let my own worries about myself drive me to being reckless, and I got hurt. Terushima took advantage of that to get to you, but he wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for me not thinking that I'm good enough and pushing myself too much because of it. No matter what you think, or what Akaashi says, what happened to my leg is not because of you, and you don't need to feel bad about it, or pay for it.”

Iwaizumi felt a pang in his chest. Oikawa wasn’t supposed to be trying to make him feel better, that was what he was supposed to be doing for Oikawa. He hated that Oikawa just  _ had  _ to be as  ridiculously stubborn as he was. He hugged Oikawa to his chest and hid his face in his hair, “Just let me do this for you, Tooru.”

Oikawa frowned. “This is cheating. You don't get to just hug me and use my first name and expect me to drop an argument.” Oikawa said, but it came out sounding defeated. Because as stubborn as Oikawa was, Iwaizumi was stubborn too, and Oikawa wasn't sure how to get him to take money from him, but Iwaizumi had already paid the bill and gotten around having to win that argument. If Oikawa just gave him money he was sure he'd just end up having it returned to him.

“Maybe it is cheating,” he tilted Oikawa’s head up to face him, “but it’s working,” he chuckled lightly.

“No.” Oikawa denied, turning his head to the side. “I can play that game too, you know,” he looked back at Iwaizumi through his lashes, dropping his voice a bit. “Hajime.”

Iwaizumi felt his heart skip a beat which he had expected, being with Oikawa and all. He leaned closer to Oikawa until their noses touched, a hand coming up to cup his face, “I know you can,” he said quietly, “But I think I still win,” and he kissed him.

“Fine. This time.” Oikawa was already mentally calculating how many dates he would have to pay for to pay Iwaizumi back, and how many gifts he could buy to speed that up without Iwaizumi thinking that he was trying to pay him back.

“Good.” Iwaizumi pressed one more kiss to Oikawa’s before letting go of him. “Let’s get you home.”


End file.
